Junk Jewelry

I love JUNK JEWELERY!
But I DON'T like it when my jewelry is junky, because I can never find what I need to wear with my outfit, without spending time rummaging through 10 boxes, a jewelry box, and 2 travel pouches. I finally decided that this weekend I was going to organize everything so I could it all at once.

So, check out my new jewelry shelves and tray!

These used to be rubber stamp shelves that I made for my book, "The Crafter's Guide To Glue" and when I went looking for something to use for organizing everything, there they were in the garage, empty! Since we moved from Nashville, I haven't put them up to hold my stamps, so I repurposed them again.

I laid one on top of a shelf full of t-shirts, which fit perfectly.

Here's how messy it was before. It was just awful. Poor Scott. He shares my closet and my mess!

Here's the instructions and everything you need to make your own Junk Jewelry Organizers...

Supplies:

Large frames of your choice

Black 1/4 inch foam board

Aleene’s® Original Tacky Glue®

Craft knife

Metal edged ruler

Glass head straight pins

Wire cutters

Steps:

1. Measure opening of frame. Cut foam board the exact same size. This will be the back of the box.
2. Place the frame laying face down on a table. Cut 2 pieces of foam board, 1-1/4 inches wide times the length of the frame opening. Glue to the inside opening of the frame, along each side. (Where the glass would normally be placed.)
3. Cut 2 pieces of foam board, 1-1/4 inches wide times the width of the frame opening. Glue to the inside opening of the frame, along the top and bottom. Also glue the corners together where they meet. This will be the sides of the box.
4. Glue the foam core that you cut for the back of the box, to the sides to complete the box.
5. Turn the framed box over, right side facing up. Lay out your rubberstamps the way that you would like for them to be placed on shelves inside the box.
6. Cut shelves, 1-1/4 inches wide times the width of the inside of the box. Place in the box between the rows of rubberstamps evenly. Glue to secure.

Here's how they looked before I added all my jewelry.


And here's how they look full. I love how my chunky bracelets fit perfectly on the shelves!

You may want to use them to organize your rubberstamps or anything else you collect. I don't know... your matchbook cars, or a collection of your boyfriend's limited series of beer bottles. Just kidding. Oh, and they would look great painted with your fave kitschy color. I almost painted them turquoise, but was in too big a hurry to get them hung.

If you like this idea, there are tons more in my book, "The Crafter's Guide to Glue", and you can get a signed copy this weekend January 22 and 23rd at the Craft Super Show in Anaheim at the Convention Center!

I'll be at the Barnes & Noble booth for my book signing, from 4:00 to 5:00. I'm listed in the Craft Celebrities on the Super Show site.

Ohhh, I almost forgot... I'll be teaching a fabulous workshop, too! It's from 5:00 to 7:00 on Friday. At the end of this workshop you'll have not just a stylin' "Lady Luck" bag, but a crash course in color selection and the knowledge of four different paint techniques that are super-duper easy!



And don't forget to come see me if you attend the CHA 2010 Winter Tradeshow. I'll be at the iLoveToCreate booth and we'll be making all kinds of crafty goodies at the make-it-&-take-it craft bars!

See you in Anaheim!
PattieWack

California Fun!

The CHA trip was amazing. I took my vacation to head to Anaheim for the Crafts and Hobbies Association trade show, and to hang out with friends in Southern California where Scott and I previously lived for 10 years. The trip began at the show where the corporation I work for, Simplicity Creative Group had a nice booth representing tons of eco products to support the theme, “It’s Easy Being Green.”

My position as the New Product Development Manager has been especially fulfilling as I have developed sustainable products including appliqués, transfers, biodegradable water bottles & decals, keychains, and non-woven recyclable bags. I also had fun coordinating one of the show stoppers; a trash bag tutu, made by Stefanie Girard. We caught several peeps standing behind the magazine clippings bustier and tutu for snapshots.

For the past 5 years, Scott and I have been shooting video for our video series as Craft TV Studios, which is sold to Creative Home Arts for their craft club. We also upload the videos on the web for the companies we choose to shoot. Being registered as Press, we were also able to shoot video for a documentary Scott is working on. We interviewed CEOs, designers and manufacturers in the crafts industry about how the new eco standards and green movement is impacting them. We spent some quality time with industry giants such as Robert Workman at Provo Craft and Bill Gardner with Craftrends, as well as Mike Harnett with Creative Leisure News. The documentary will be edited by Scott and eventually submitted to Current TV Network.

I finally got to meet Cathie Filian, who hosts with Steve Piacenza on Creative Juice, which airs on DIY and HGTV. She was so excited to finally get to tell me that she’s an Oklahoma gal, too! She has so much energy and filled up the room with her giggles and bubbly personality. We were all at the same party hosted by Carlos Garcia at Scrapblog.com.

What a party! Everyone was there. We got to hang with Traci Bautista, who is a fabulous collage artist and has her pic on every bottle of Aleene's Collage Pauge in the craft stores. She’s a sweetie, and so talented. Oh, and Stefanie Girard was there too. She’s one amazing fashion and crafts designer, and the sassy chick who made the tutu for my display in the Simplicity Creative Group booth. She has several crafty blogs, and you can go check her out to see what fun she had at the show with her new book, “Sweater Surgery.”

Deborah Norville was there, pushing her new yarn line for Premier Yarns. She is an avid knitter, and Deborah is an award-winning journalist, a bestselling author, and anchor of the television newsmagazine, Inside Edition.

Not to be upstaged, Paris Hilton made an appearance to promote her new kids craft kits in the Wooky Entertainment booth to promote her new Paris Creativity collection of crafting products.

The paparazzi were thick, and as you can see, she caused quite a stir with the curious onlookers. Scott got some great footage as she snuck in from the back of the building.

It was an absolute madhouse. If you are interested, you can go to Allison Orthner's blog to read all about it.

I ran into an old friend from my days as a host on Aleene’s Creative Living. Joann Pearson is an absolute doll, and has been the lead Craft Designer at Michaels for 20 years. Her knowledge, skill, ability to follow the trends and her amazing creativity make her a guiding force in the craft industry. It was great to see you, Joann!

I also met up with Vicki Howell who is the knitting expert at LifetimeTV.com and she looked beautiful as ever, even as a glowing expectant mom. I hung out in the press room talking to 2 amazing designers, Joan Fee and Lauren Johnston to talk about projects we are working on together. I can't believe I forgot to get pics!

I was stunned when I went to the EK Success booth and saw all of the Swarovski crystal designs in the glass cases. Check it out! And, if you click on the pic, it will be much easier to see.

Okay, the trade show was fun, but Scott and I were happy to leave and get into the vacation groove. Santa Barbara was absolutely GORGEOUS! Yeppers, Scott’s in his hap,hap,happy place.

I love shopping in Santa Barbara!

This public post is turning into one giant staple. I just think it is stunning and almost becomes art when you take a pic up close. The local bands and nonprofits as well as the stores, post their info here. I wish we were going to be there on February 7th. You can bet we would be at Reds to hear Inez and The Redemption band.

We met up with old friends and shopped State Street, checked out our old hangs, noticed the grafitti on the public post, and ate some of the best sushi in the world. Kat Shannon who is a host on KZSB 1290 AM Talk radio in Santa Barbara, Jen Fullerton, Susan and Peter Levin, Gloria Tracy, and even the bartender at Joe’s made it feel like a homecoming week.

Ahhhhh, Santa Barbara will always be a beacon to me and this sunset made me feel like I’m back home.

Speaking of home, the gang from Santa Paula threw a cocktail party for us at the Iron Horse, and we couldn’t stop laughing and telling stories. Peggy Kelly, Reporter from the Santa Paula Times was there, and our good buddy Frank held down the stools and brought us up to date on the local scoop.

Scott talked tourism promotional videos with John Blanchard, on the Board of Directors for Limoneira. Connie Tushla, former Chamber Board President, and Jeanne Orcutt, Curator for the Santa Paula Oil Museum brought their charm and sophistication to the party.

We had a hilariously fun time. Barbara Kroon, President of the Soroptimist International of Santa Paula was a blast as usual. I didn't get a pic of Sam Hishmeh, President of the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce, but he was as suave and GQ as usual. It was so fun. It was just too short, that’s all!

We had to stop by the Santa Paula Coffee Company to see if everything was still the same and check our email with the free wi-fi.

Venice Beach was still the same, only a little more crowded than a year ago.

Malibu was beautiful and I saw DOLPHINS!! I counted 5 dolphins frolicking with the surfers as we sped down the Pacific Coast Highway.

This cracked us up in the Nashville airport and seemed like the perfect ending to our crafty business trip/vacation adventure.

I don’t know the back story, but one of the vacant gates had these adorable kids crafts hung up for everyone to see.

It was freezing and icy while we were gone, but it was good to get back to Nashville.

We made it home and all the way to the Pie In The Sky for a glass of wine and killer pizza. Here’s to another CHA trade show.

Cheers!

Packing for the CHA Trade Show!

It's that time again, and I am almost packed and ready to hit the bed so I'll be fresh to jump on the plane and fly to Anaheim in the morning. This trade show is the largest one in the world for the hobby and craft industry. I've been going since the 80's and it never gets old to me.

There are always fashions shows like this one that showcase the fashion crafts every year. It's so exciting to see all the many ways to experience crafting.

This year my company, the Simplicity Creative Group under the brand of Wm. Wrights, will be participating in the fashion show on Monday night. I promise to get pics and blog about it. I'm also looking forward to the California sunshine. I'm leaving my gloves and boots in Nashville, and head for some fresh sushi and the In-n-Out!

CHA again!

The 2008 CHA trade show for the crafts and hobby industry is in full swing, and we are right in the middle of it. We'll be scouting out all the fab new products, and catch up on hugs with old friends. We'll be getting some great video of the best craft demonstrators and some behind the scenes pics for you. I can't wait to see what's new at the Wright's booth, at Duncan, EK Success, Coats & Clark, Provo Craft, Krylon, and more! I'll keep you posted on the cool stuff....

Bags are packed...

It's a little past midnight and my bags are packed, and I finished my pretty little project for my book. Yeah! It felt so good to put it in the FedEx box and lay it by my bags. Now I'll be able to focus on the CHA Trade Show in Chicago for the next few days. Scott and I will be busy taking craft videos to manufacturers and I'll be on the hunt for the latest greatest craft goodies. I have some outrageous things coming up, and I want just the right things to design and share with everyone. Okay, I'm heading to bed so I can get to LAX before the plane takes off. I'll be back to posting next week, and let you in on my trip to Chicago. TTFN!

Gotta Haves

There are some things I can’t live without on my design table. Paper dolls, masks, crazy ephemera, rub-on alphabets, glue, a ton of scissors, paper, my markers, and a cool roller stamp. Notice the Martha Stewart ticket that I got when she was the keynote speaker at the last CHA trade show. Gotta haves….