Jewelry Organizer Tutorial

I just like a bird I can't resist 'shiny stuff'.  All that glitters isn't gold though... it's usually gold or silver plated or just good old fashioned plastic beads.  Whatever the material I just like it.

I suppose I'm becoming a collector... or an addict possibly since dear husband said to me the other day "Why do you need all this stuff?  You never wear any of it."  Well... I wear it to church sometimes and I always wear earrings (unless I'm sick in bed dying) and there are always those expensive trips to Walmart ya know...  Yep, that's pretty much it... I NEED it to go to Walmart.  I refuse to become one of the "People of Walmart" wearing my pj's or waaaay too small underwear while forgetting my pants but remembering my fuzzy slippers, and a wife-beater shirt.  Yep I NEED all this stuff to avoid a paparazzi!!!  BTW have you seen the "People of Walmart"????  www.peopleofwalmart.com  (be forwarned, it's NOT pretty, but it's great for hours of entertainment!)

To make a long story short I have a growing collection that is getting harder to store or at least find what I'm looking for.  Since I'm borderline OCD... okay, I admit it... Queen of OCD, I NEED to have all my stuff in order.  I NEED other peoples stuff to be in order too but that's for another post.

 I had one of those cutesy little hanging organizers with all the clear little pockets for all my baubles but my collection 'outgrew' it and I just needed to do something else.  Necessity is the mother of invention and this evil genius has a plan....

Of course it must be inexpensive AND beautiful... can't have no ugly stuff to hang all my pretty stuff on, and since I have NO money, I'll use up some odds and ends I have on hand.

I used a piece of pine board it's about a 1"x4"  This one was about 7 feet long so it needed to be cut smaller to fit in my closet when it was completed.  I used a 20" long section for this project.
Dear husband always wants to 'help', so I let him cut the board for me.  He cut a total of 3 for me because I have big plans :) (you can make yours longer or shorter)

To make it pretty I decided to decoupage (Mod Podge) some scrapbook paper to the board before getting started on the functional stuff.

 After the sticky stuff was dry and my board was now beautiful  I also needed to gather a few tools and lots of little bits of hardware - a hammer, awl, needle nose pliers, a ruler (or tape measure), some picture hanging supplies, eye screws and cup hooks

 Then I got out my handy-dandy ruler and measured so I could space the hangers on the back and all my hooks evenly

I made two rows with the eye hooks and staggered them - I will be hanging earrings on these.

I then did the same along the bottom edge with all the little cup hooks.  My necklaces will hang on these.  By the way... my fingers got pretty sore twisting all those little hooks in.  I had to take a few breaks and also used the pliers some of the time.

Next I put some hangers into the wall in my closet and hung it up...

And I went from this tangled mess....

To this organized beauty!

 This cost about $4 for all the little eye hooks and cup hooks when all was said and done but it was so much cheaper than buying something ready made, practical and workable for my particular needs.  I've used this for a few months now and wanted to let you know it is working very well for me... I've also filled it up now and thinking about doing another one. I'm pleased with the results and happy with the functionality.