This month's tutorial is a project easy enough that most of you have probably no need for a tutorial, but I was in a great need for an earring organizer and was so pleased with the result of this idea that I wanted to share it with you.

 

After trying several ways to sort my fishhook earrings, I couldn't find anything that really worked and knew that someday – when I had time – I was going to make a real earring holder. When I recently came upon a pair of white painted wooden large picture frames at a consignment store, I realized I would finally actually bite the bullet and make the organizer.

 

To make similar organizers, you will need:

picture frame(s)

craft paints (optional)

staple gun OR hot glue gun

fabric cut to a little larger than the frame openings

 

These frames were already white painted, and had little grooves. Nothing fancy, but cute.

 

I could have left them as is, but decided to have fun with some cheap acrylic paint. I'm not normally good at freehand, but was pleased with the way these turned out.

 

I put several coats of blue in the groove on the frames, then used toothpicks to do little flower adornments, reversing the colors and using a slightly different-yet-coordinating cheerful vintage style flower design for each frame, so that they could stand alone or be used as a set.

 

For the back, I used some vintage feedback fabric I had on hand. I like it because it is sturdy and heavy-grained enough to hold up well under a little weight and be pierced easily by the earrings. I used a staple gun and tried two ways of fastening the fabric rectangles, stretching them taut as I worked.

(You could also use a hot glue gun to secure the fabric to the frame – a little messier to work with but it wouldn't slide around on the staples…)

For this one I tried stapling it in the groove where the picture normally sits.

That laid the fabric right up against the frame, but it was much harder to work with.

 

For the second one, I just laid it flat and stapled it to the back of the frame.

 

That was a lot easier, but then you can see some of the unfinished frame between the white paint and the fabric…no big deal for me.

 

And there they are! Super easy and quick – quicker if you don't paint the frames.

 

Ideally the fabric should be zig-zagged or some sort of fray check put around the edges, but I didn't feel like it, so there it is. I like the way they coordinate without being identical.

 

And they worked just great for earrings, which was the main point.

 

Being picture frames, you can hang them singly or together, on a wall or door as practical home decor…

 

Or lean them up against something so you can page through them.

 

I filled 'em up! And now I have all my earrings easily accessible and can see what I have at a glance. A big improvement, and one more small detail of my life organized.