written by marieann

I finally bucked up and spent the $60 to buy the Badge-a-Minit button maker. I longed to make 1″ buttons to pin to everything that I own. I’ve already started making a bunch for swap partners and I made Sean a Heath Ledger button that made him a superstar for a weekend. I have to tell you, though, they are a lot harder to make than you might think. I am still messing up about a third of them. The plastic doesn’t always get perfectly trapped under the metal backing and it ripples. The instructions explain that even pressure is the key to a flawless button but that’s much easier read than done. I’ve been making cute little fabric bookmarks to ship the buttons too.

written by marieann

This is a twist on my belt hanger tutotorial, here. My mom and I made an earring holder which I’ll post at some other time. I still had the pesky problem of what to do with pins, necklaces and bracelets.

You follow the basic directions of the belt tutorial. The two main differences are this:

- You don’t need to fit the whole thing to the hanger as it won’t be holding as much weight, so instead you can make a rectangle that fits over the bottom rung of the hanger.
- You can’t have all complete loops like the belt hanger because some of your bracelets and necklaces might not have a clasp (as in, they are permamently connected to slip over your neck or wrist). For those, I did two short pieces right next to each other so that I could tie them around the bracelets.

written by marieann

I made this box out of an old shoebox, cardboard, and an old silk shirt. I wanted a way to transport my jewlery in style without worrying about a broken mirror. This is an easy project but you could make it really classy.

Supplies:
Silk shirt (or fabric scraps)
Contrasing fabric (I used black satin)
Ribbon
Shoe box (I had one with an attached lid)
Cardboard scraps
Grey tape

Tools:
Tacky glue (I prefer Aleene’s)
Scissors
Clothes Pins
Popsicle stick (or other spreader)

Instructions:
1. Cut a rectangle of fabric from the shirt material big enough to wrap around the outside of the box. If you line the fabric up just right, you’ll have button holes in the front of the box.
2. Cut a diagonal slit in the corners so that you can neatly fold the fabric toward the inside.
3. Squeeze a thin layer of glue on the outside of the cardboard of the box. Use the stick to spread the glue very smoothly.
4. Press the fabric against the box tucking the ends inside the box. Use clothes pins to hold the fabric in place as it is drying.
5. Use cardboard scraps to build compartments. Make the rectangles as wide as you want the walls of the compartment to be tall and as long as you need them to be to connect to something plus four inches. Fold each edge of the cardboard under two inches (you may need to score the cardboard). Don’t glue them at first, but be sure that they fit. Then cover them in the lining fabric.
6. Using grey tape, tape the folded flaps to the side walls. I made compartments within the compartments so sometimes you may need to glue the walls directly to other compartments.
7. Spread glue over the inside of the box. Be sure that the ends of your fabric are covering the outside fabric which is folded in the inside but does not fold to the outside. Press the fabric pieces along the inside of the box, clipping corners where needed to help the fabric lie flat.
8. Put a thin line of glue with the glue gun over the edges and press ribbon against it. This will hide your unclean ends.
9. Wrap long ribbon pieces around the box and thread thru the button holes to tie. Stuff with pretty jewlery!

written by threadslinger

These were posted on an awesome craft blog I read Cut out and Keep so I decided to make them with my college sister who thought they were totally awesome.

Materials needed

2 beer caps (I picked matching ones but you don’t have to)
2 earring backs
2 metal jewlery pieces with a hook on the end (you could use metal wire here too)
Hammer and nail

Directions

Poke a hole in the beer cap by hammering a nail through it. Do it on the back side of the cap so that you don’t smash it in. Then place the metal through the hole, twist it around and loop through earing back. Then wear them to a Frat party (if you are Elaine) or to a bar (if you are me).