Do It Yourself, Jewelry Forest

Story:
I love earrings but I hate clutter.
I decided to get the earrings off of my dresser top and up in the trees so I could see all of my options while maintaining a stylish clutter-free space.






Cost To Make: $20 at most

Ingredients:
  Foam Core Board Scraps ($2ish a sheet) (or use free cardboard)
  Green Fabric Scraps ($2ish)
  2 or 3 Brown Felt Squares ($2ish)
  Metal Wire (18 Gauge Aluminum $3)
  Tree Stencil (I hand drew mine)

Tools:
  Pliers
  Hot Glue
  Scissors
  Exacto Knife
  Spray Adhesive ($4ish)
  Nail (for poking holes)

Steps:
Cut out the desired tree shape from the foam core board, after applying spray adhesive cover the 'foliage' part of the tree with green fabric (fastening the fabric around the edges with hot-glue)

Cut out the 'bark' pattern from the brown felt laying it over the green fabric while setting it in place with hot-glue.

Form the shapes you want with the wire, pre-poke the holes with the nail, and fasten your hook or loop in place by treating the wire like a 'brad' so it will stay in place on the tree.

As you make this, plan out where you want things to hang depending on how much jewelry you own, while keeping in mind to make extra hooks for future additions.
I chose to make both loops and hooks, in order to accommodate my jewelry needs for earrings and necklaces.
Plus, pins can 'pin' right into the tree as well.
For my stud earrings, I also made a Jewelry Pond (not shown in photo) complete with mini cattails made from cork board scraps and wire bits.

*This idea was submitted on 08/24/08 to VENUS magazine's Craft Off Contest.

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