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Here’s how I turned two plain, boring and not so useful picture frames into cute little jewelry racks. (With a little inspiration from a gift made by Nina).The funny thing is, I had all the materials I used at home already.

Step 1:
Thoroughly clean the surfaces that you will be painting. Otherwise the paint won’t stick as well and all your efforts will be futile. I used plain old rubbing alcohol and a cotton pad to do so. Depending on the material of your frame you might have to sand it, too. I was too lazy for that.


Step 2:
Because I had a multicolor design in mind and I didn’t want the silver color of the frame to peek out I applied a base coat of white. The paint I used is regular nail polish. Since the frames don’t have much surface to them you’re not wasting a whole lot of it. It’s available in most households with females living in it and you easily have a cheap variety. Also, nail polish sticks to, as far as I have experienced, most surfaces. It dries fast, too. Remember, that you might want to put paper or cardboard underneath your little arts & crafts project, so you won’t mess up your table or whatever surface you’re working on.

Step 3:
Apply the top layer of colors. Don’t be afraid of colors mixing or bumpy textures. As Bob Ross always says, it’s all happy accidents. I also think it makes your piece more special and personal. You could apply a see-through top coat, but again, I was too lazy for that. If it’s something that will just be standing around somewhere and will most likely not get in touch with other objects a lot you don’t really need a top coat.

I ended up liking the second one better than the first cluttered one, so I redid the first one. Could have saved myself the work of step 2.. oh well!

Step 4:
Take three rather long pieces of string and braid them. I made it long enough to be able to wrap it three times around the cardboard piece of the frame. You could also make three smaller individual pieces, but then you will need to do more gluing and I believe the string wouldn’t be as tight as when you continously wrap it. Maybe you don’t have as much jewelry and just need less length.
My string was nice and coarse with a lot of texture, I really liked that. You could also use wool – which I used in addition with one of the braids – or any other equivalent you can find at home.

Step 5:
If you dislike the background piece of your frame you would have to modify it before you attach the braid. I decided not to modify the background material itself, because I kind of liked the natural and rough look to it. I thought it went very well with my string.
Now, attach one end of the braid on the back of the cardboard or wooden piece. I simply used sticky tape. If your jewelry is all lose and you just hook it on to the string you can proceed to fasten the braid all around. I wrapped it three times, so I would end up with two lines for earrings and one for necklaces in the bottom. If, like me, you have your earrings on the little plastic piece they usually come with, you need to line them up as you wrap the braid. So you line up all the earrings you want to have in the first line and only fix it at the other side with more sticky tape and then continue wrapping. Make sure the distance between the different lines of braid is big enough, otherwise your jewelry will tangle and the whole thing will lose its effectiveness.

Step 6:
The easiest of them all: Put the pieces together and admire your fine work! :D
 
Did this inspire you to a little arts & crafts project of your own? Do you rather buy something store bought and save yourself the work? How do you like my results?

I’d love to hear your feedback!

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