Earring Holder AND Chalkboard

I have made this earring hold for Micheal's sister, Stacey, for Christmas last year.  I will be making a few for my sister soon.  Here is how to do it!

You will need:

A frame (what ever size you want), hardware cloth (you can buy it at Home Depot or Lowes or your local hardware store), a can a spray paint (it you want to paint the frame which I did), a staple gun and staples, a screwdriver (standard/flathead), pliers, wire cutters, a hammer (not pictured), and an old sheet

Tools you will need - included in the list above.

Step 1- turn the frame over and use the screwdriver to take out the fantastic jaguar picture then use the pliers to remove the staples

Make sure to keep your awesome jaguar picture to use later (if you were lucky enough to get a jaguar picture like I was)

Step 2 - Move to a well ventilated area (outside), spread out your old sheet and spray paint your frame.  It will take several coats - be sure to let it dry between coats.  And, don't drop it in the grass and have to sand it and start over like I did.

Step 3 - While the paint is drying, unroll the hardware cloth and flatten out the crease at the beginning. 

Step 4 - Place hardware cloth over your awesome jaguar picture and . . .

cut it (a little larger to be safe) with the wire cutters.  You know what they say about measuring twice and cutting once - that is the idea here (well, I guess it is more like measure twice cut twice - but whatever).

Step 5 - Optional - I didn't like the crease where the hardware cloth was bend so I hammered it out to make it look better.  I used some shop paper towels so I wouldn't make the hardware cloth look even worse. 

Now you have your hardware cloth cut to a little larger than the picture.

Step 6 - Finish painting your frame and let it dry completely.

Step 7 - Fit hardware cloth to frame . . .

and use wire cutters to cut the hardware cloth to the exact size.

Make sure it fits perfectly (or a close as possible)

Step 8 - Use staple gun to staple the hardware cloth to the frame.

Close-up of the hardware cloth stapled to the frame.

Done! 

Here it is with a few earrings - how fantastic is it?

At the boyfriend's sister's house with her earrings and necklaces - she thought it would be perfect for long necklaces and she was right!  So, this could be an earring and necklace holder.  I don't know why I can't get her picture bigger - sorry you have to squint to see it. 

So, there you have it . . . How to make an earring (and necklace) holder.

It was quite easy and very inexpensive!  I had to buy the staple gun and staples which was $12.  The frame was $3, the spray paint was $1 (but, next time I will buy more expensive spray paint because you don't use as many coats), the hardware cloth was $10 - so the whole project was $26 but I have lots of hardware cloth left and the staple gun can be used for a long time.

But wait, there is more!!  I took that awesome jaguar print and I painted it with chalkboard paint then had Micheal build me a frame out of old barn wood and now we have this:

The cost of this project was free!!  I guess it was really $1.50 since I used half the picture from the earring holder.  I had the chalkboard paint (it would be about $5 if you don't have any), the nails, and the wood. 

It took a whole year to get the chalkboard done! Not that is was hard - it was super easy (here is a quick tutorial) but like everyone else I have a million things to do at any given moment.  But, it was definitely worth that wait because I love both items I made with my $3 thrifted frame!  See the chalkboard in action here and here!

What do you think?

Go check out Trash to Treasure, Twice Owned Tuesday, Measured by the Heart, and Domestically Speaking for great DIY ideas!