Necklace Rack for Less Than $1

I had been keeping my necklaces on a store-bought rack that was quite pretty, but it left them tangled up and discouraged me from wearing them. So I've been thinking for awhile of something to make to display them in a neat manner, making them easy to get to. Found tons of ideas on Pintrest, but they all required tools or supplies that I didn't have on hand. So on my last trip to Walmart, I spotted a 5-gallon paint stirrer. A nice, flat, shapely wooden stick for 28 cents. Perfect! Pretty sure I could afford that. So here is how you make a 28-cent necklace rack (assuming you have the other supplies on hand like I did).

Supplies:
1. 5-gallon wooden paint stirring stick
2. Paint
3. Nails
4. Measuring tape or ruler
5. Ribbon
6. Stapler or hot glue
7. Hammer

Step One

Paint the stirrer in the color of your choice. I chose white. Let it dry completely before doing another coat and letting that dry as well.

(I really need to work on taking pictures as I do my projects, but I did this one over the course of a few days)

Step Two

Lay the ruler or measuring tape on the stirrer and mark of 1-inch increments in pencil.

Step Three

Staple or hot glue a ribbon to the back. Since I experimented with this first, I will tell you two things I did wrong here. 1: I tied knots on the ribbon ends. I later had to take them out to make the hammering easier. 2: I didn't staple as closely to the top as I could have. This makes it tilt forward once hung up. So, not knots and staple/hot glue close to the top. Okay? Okay.

This is more secure than it looks, btw...

Step Four

This step is best not done on your dining room table. Gather your hammer and nails, go outside, and hammer nails into the spots you marked off earlier. Make sure they will all be tilted a little bit upward when it is hung up. Downward-pointed nails = necklaces on the ground. No bueno.

See how my ribbon is sticking out of the end because I had to untie the knots here? Yep. Just trimmed that off.

Step Five

Hang it. A little more trial-and-error happened here. I first tried hanging it on one nail. Yeah, not so smart. I couldn't keep it balanced. So I used ever-so-classy clear push pins. Two of them. This helped stabilize it. Now you are ready to display your jewelry!

I never noticed how many heart necklaces I had...

DIY Mod Podge

Mod Podge. Crafters love the stuff. With all of its glorious sticky and sealing qualities, how can we not? It has so many uses! And, my firends, I've learned a way to make your own for MUCH cheaper than buying the brand-name.

Supplies:

1. Regular cheap-o school glue (I scored this for 10 cents at Walmart! Back-to-school supplies a few weeks after school started)

2. Air-tight jar (I used a pasta sauce jar, so free!)

3. Water

Step One

Empty the glue into the bottle. I let it stay upside down for several minutes until it stopped dripping.

Step Two

Fill the empty glue bottle about 3/4 full of water. Pour that into the jar. Close the lid. Shake shake shake! That's it. You're done! And if you managed to also find a ten cent bottle of glue, you now have ten cent mod podge!

Now what do you do with it? Basically, it acts as an adhesive and sealant of sorts. You can paint some on a box and adhere decorative paper to it. Let it dry, then cover with another layer to seal the paper. Here is the project I just finished today. I got a wooden plaque, painted it, and let it dry. Then I cut out some letters from scrapbooking paper I've had for YEARS. I brushed some of my new mod podge onto the surface and stuck on the letters.

Once it was dry, I brushed on another layer to seal the paper. Added a few stickers, attached a ribbon to the back, and voila!

Birthday present for a seven year old that loves purple and bugs. (Don't tell her yet! Her party is this weekend...)

Chalkboard Menu

Want to learn how to make an easy, cheap, cute, and very functional project? You do? I'm so glad! Here is how to make a chalkboard menu.

Supplies:

1. Mini cookie sheet ($1 @ Dollar Tree)
2. Chalkboard paint (~$7 @ Michael's... although I used my 40% off coupon for it, woohoo!)
3. Chalk ($1 @ Walmart for a 12 pack of colored sticks)
4. Various paint colors (I used two colors, $1 or $2 each @ Walmart)
5. Paintbrushes (You probably have on hand, but you can buy a big variety pack for $5 at Walmart)
6. Some sort of adhesive or mounting system (Mine was $3 at Walmart, but you could screw it into the wall or hot glue a ribbon to the back)

Total spent: Eh, I'll say around $11, but the paint will be used for many other projects as well. I'm considering this a $4 project, just because of the cookie sheet and adhesive.

Step One

Thoroughly wash and dry your cookie sheet. Mine was a little bent since I bought it several months ago with the intentions of putting it in the house area at work for the kids to play with, but I knew/hoped it would flatten out once it was mounted on the wall (and it did!).

Step Two

Do your first coat of chalkboard paint directly on your squeaky clean cookie sheet. Use a small brush to paint the edges of your design and a larger one to paint the middle. Make it as even and un-lumpy as you can, but I guarantee you will see brush strokes on the finished product. I think it gives it more charm, though. =)

If you want, you can of course cut out the shape you want to paint from a piece of paper and then outline it on the cookie sheet with a black permanent marker. That would give you a chance to make sure it is perfectly as you want. I was pretty confident in my ability to wing it, though.

Step Three

Wash your paint brushes out so the paint doesn't dry in them. Oh! I forgot about my new trick! I didn't have a paint tray and didn't feel like buying one. Figured I'd jimmy something up once I got home. So I took a small plate and covered it in foil. When I washed out my brushes, I simply removed the foil and tossed it. Before the next coat, I covered it in a new piece of foil. This way, I didnt't have to wash it and the fresh paint didnt't mix with the sticky or dry paint. Made my life so much easier!

Okay, so your paint brushes are now drying. Let the first coat of paint dry on the cookie sheet completely for at least an hour. 

Once dry, do a second coat, paying close attention to the edges.

Step Four

Repeat step three. Wash brushes, new foil, let paint dry for an hour.

Third coat. Again, pay close attention to the edges. Three coats was all I needed. Let this last coat dry for another hour.

Step Five

Details! Using any color you'd like, paint whatever design you want on it. I chose two shades of blue to match the rest of the kitchen. Bright colors look really good on chalkboard paint, btw. =) You don't have to use the design I did, but if you do, start with a dotted border. Then a title. Then the letters for the days of the week. Then lines to separate the days' foods.

While doing the details, I realized it would have been a lot easier/ more professional looking if I had bought some paint pens. Alas, I'm cheap. Doing it by brush worked fine for me. But if it's that important to you and you don't mind spending some extra dough, paint pens would be easier.

Step Six

Following the directions on the chalkboard paint bottle, wait at least 24 hours before using this. Then, lightly color the whole chalkboard part with chalk and wipe it clean. I guess this conditions it. While you are waiting, you can flip it over and work on whatever system you are going to use to mount it. I used little Command sticky tag things. It's essentially like Velcro that is sticky on the back, only this will come off the wall cleanly. I was happy to find it! If it was cheaper, I'd use it in my classroom as well. Our walls are terrible for staples and tape. =\

Step Seven

After you've waited 24 hours, hang it up, write your weekly menu, and enjoy! Now you and the rest of the family know what to expect and you can see what you need at the grocery store.

Did I mention it's magnetic?