How To: Manage Your Mischievous Jewelry

So, I am obsessed with my dental cabinet; I think I mentioned that here. No really. It is amazing. Green laminate exterior, cool white lacquer covered metal interior. It has big to tiny drawers, just the right depth for dental instruments; and, it is on wheels. If you were to come to my house, I’d drag you upstairs just to show off (that picture btw does not do it justice).

Over the years, it has been suggested that I paint the cabinet, oh, I dunno, a nice shade of black. But, I can’t bear the thought of doing that. There is something about the tacky green wood-grain laminate that sings to me; just looking at this object makes me grin. It is silly and ridiculous and I just can’t get enough of it. With all the drawers, it would be perfect to hold my craft supplies etc., but I won’t share the cabinet with such messy things. I know that craft supplies would spill, corrupt, and ruin this cabinet. And, really, this cabinet deserves a high-ranking place in my house. So, instead of serving some highly responsible purpose, I assigned the dental cabinet to one of my more frivolous endeavors: my jewelry collection. See, I, um, have a lot of it.

Growing up, I sneeringly made fun of my grandmother’s (who I promise is a dead ringer for Dolly Parton with) massive dresser full of jewelry. My mother is an austere sort of dresser, and she wears jewelry sparingly, and even then, it must be “real” (meaning gold, silver, platinum and the jewels rich stones). When I was little, I just agreed with whatever my mother’s opinion was –in the way that small children will. My grandmother never had such rules. If she liked it; she wore it. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t. My mom spent a lot of money one Christmas on an expensive pendant for my grandmother. We never saw her wear it. And, years later, my grandmother gave that same pendant to me as a plaything forgetting that it had been a Christmas gift (I think my mom is still pissed about that). But, that is how she is; giving and kind with a touch of silliness.

My grandmother sounds pretty fun, no? But, we weren’t that close while I was growing up. There is no one thing that I could point out; but I will say, looking back, that we are so much alike that it is probably hard for us to get along. In any event, as I get older, I begin to realize just how much my grandmother I do have in common. We are both fancy dressers no matter what; neither one of us thinks that we are very pretty (and she is drop-dead gorgeous, I’d kill for her legs right now), we have hot tempers, once we have an opinion set it is hard for us to change, we don’t always understand our families and they don’t always understand us, we are both exceptionally tall for our generations, we like to have a good time, and we both love jewelry.

It was only recently, while I was opening and closing the drawers to my dental cabinet for fun that I realized that I am well on my way to that “dresser full of jewelry” like my grandmother. And, it makes me smile to think that. My collection, no unlike hers, has some nice “real” pieces, some higher-end costume jewelry, and some just flat-out silly plastic worthless fun. In a weird way, my own collection makes me feel close to her.

And, hey, it looks gawgeous in my dental cabinet. My one complaint is that it is hard for me to keep track of my stud earrings in the large drawers. I don’t want to drop the studs into a box because then I always have to “hunt” for them, so I lay them out on top of a velvet case. The only problem is that the studs still roll about as I open and close the drawers making a mess; and causing me worry.

(and here is a close up of the mess)

So, mah dears, I came up with a charming little solution that I thought I’d share with you.

I made a wee felt ear to hold my earrings (grandma would be jealous).

You will need:

-flesh colored felt (again I use the eco-friendly synthetic kind)

-a darker flesh colored embroidery thread

-a needle with a large eye

-a needle threader

-scissors

-safety pin, or plain pin

-paper

-fabric marker (a fabric marker is best, but you could use any fine tip marker)

Step 1

Print out the ear template provided below. You can blow it up to any size you wish, but I kept mine to ear size.

Step 2

Trace and cut out two “ears” from the felt using the template

Step 3

Pin the ears together

Step 4

Thread your needle, and knot the end of the thread. Run the needle in-between the two “ears.” Run a blanket stitch (we learned how to do that here) around the edge of the ears. Finish it off with a small knot.

Step 5

Using the fabric marker, draw the “ear” contours onto one side of your “ear.” ps. i know this pic has a needle. But, I forgot to take a pic before I started sewing; so, just ignore the needleage.

Step 6

Thread your needle, and knot the end of the thread. Run the needle in from the back of your design just a little bit above where you want to begin.

Step 7

Push your needle through from the front at the place where you want to begin

Step 8

Run your needle in from the back just above your first stitch

Step 9

Push your needle through, from the front, into your first stitch (splitting the stitch)

Step 10

Congrats! You have learned the split stitch!

Step 11

Repeat steps 7-11 until you have covered all of the contours

Step 14

Put all of your studs into your new felt ear for safekeeping. Voila! Mischief-managed.

Other posts by MsHinterland

• How To: Wear Red Lipstick - February 7th, 2009
• Down and Dirty, Super Cheap, Easy and Fast to Make, Holiday Office Party Gift - December 17th, 2008
• Gifting Giving and Wonderful Handmade Goodness - December 4th, 2008
• How To: Make A Cupcake Pincushion From A Bottlecap - November 26th, 2008
• How To: Make Your Unearned Femme Privilege Work For You At The Hardware Store - November 24th, 2008

Technorati Tags: furniture, home, jewelry

Tags: furniture, home, jewelry