jewelry display ~ make one!

Here is a quick and super easy way to make your own display,  just like the ones pictured above, to keep your lovelies from getting tangled or lost.  I've experimented with many types of displays for festivals, shops and inventory and this design is my favorite so far.  It's portable, attractive, low cost - and again, so very easy!

You will need:

• wooden frame (using 8x11 here)
• tiny nails
• scrapbook paper - 1 page (or make your own ~ or use fabric)
• tulle netting (I used a shiny champagne color here)
• stapler
• hammer
• cardboard
• nail polish (optional)

Take the glass out of your frame and remove the cardboard backing.

Cut background paper to fit cardboard backing exactly.

Cut the tulle larger than backing, as pictured.  You can be messy like me.

Here's where the extra cardboard comes in.  You don't want your staples to poke through, so adding cardboard (from that handy diaper box) might be necessary.

Fold the tulle over, and staple.  Messy is still fine.  You are going to cover all of this up.

Fold the tulle, and pull it tightly before stapling on all sides.  If it sags in any area, just pull, and fold a little more...then staple.

Put the finished insert in the frame, and close up the back.  Almost done...

This part is totally optional.  I paint the nails with nail polish to make them softer on my jewelry...and give them a shiny happy look.

Better to paint them after you nail them in.  The more you paint them, the better the effect.

So, then you have this.

It's hard to capture with my camera, but the tulle provides an easy and elegant way to display and keep up with earrings.  (Simply hook them in.)  Tulle also adds a bit of shine and you can find it in a wide range of colors.

Here is another one with a lighter background.

They display well together..on the wall, or on tables and shelves.

I like to stain some of my displays with bioshield stain.  It's nontoxic and comes in beautiful colors.  A little goes a very long way.

Have fun!

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

home

terrible bridesmaid shoes kicked off at this very same tree in 1989.  saved by my mom, just in case...

going home has always felt a lot like a night out on the town in shoes like these.  pointed and pinched.  no style. and so tired.  so old.

you can laugh about it.  cry about it.  try to ignore it.  change it.  beat it.  but the feeling remains.  it only becomes less important when you accept it.  

lucky are those of us who find our true home, a sacred place with others, that mostly feels like this.  and fortunate are those of us who allow ourselves in.

wondering what your image of home is today

~ and wishing you peace ~

wordless wednesday

august night

a late night out....not quite like they used to be....but maybe even better.

wishing you spontaneous bouncing balloon fun this weekend...

the other side

standing barefoot outside the old screen door.  dusty freckled from the day.  surprised to find the door latched.

she was only playing.

i'll let you inside if you tell me the magic word.

resentful little girl.  thirsty.  obstinate!

abracadabra.

no.....  playfully.

i offer more of what i know she does not want.  pushing.

no. tersely.

i stop and stare.  and probably whine...never guessing how i'd find myself now wishing this word would open the door to her smile, her life.

no... okay, you win.  she walks away, leaving the latch spinning.

i was free but so ashamed.  regretful.  why couldn't i play the game?  (a lifelong question!)

and then my own child stands belligerently outside another old screen door.  tantrum time.  more smoothie!  throws and splatters.

what can you say?  what is the magic word?  (oh my god, did i just say that?)

i am repeating the pattern.  finally playing along, it seems.  i know it, and still i play, curious to understand the other side.

he knows the word is please, but will not say it.  not like this.

a surreal moment slides by.  i look into the little boy eyes that are my own, that are infinity.

thank you Z.  I try.

please more smoovie.  He surprises me.

the right words in reverse.

somehow grace has slipped in, and we both win quietly.  softly remembering that the magic is not in the words but in the way we help each other to the words.  the music.  the lives we choose.

thank you z.  


thank you mom.  


...please open the door.

free to want

after the storm

the storm came today.  the one i thought i was longing for.  and in one house shaking crash, Z shot straight up into my arms.  he was shaking, sobbing, you got me.  i was shaking, saying, i got you.  and the house fell silently dark, full of waiting .... for another crooked crash.

finally we found our laughter and reveled in the scene.  sweet rain soothing cracked earth and splintered plants.  clearing the air for freer thought.

i put him down, and my mind spiraled back to a post i'd stumbled upon the day before.  i gave it little thought.  oh no, apparently not.  for at 2 am, eyes wide open, i was back.  and at 4 pm, full of heart-sky opening joy, i was back yet again.

back to simply admit that, no, i've never asked for what i want without at least a handful of guilt, superstition, fear, unentitled supposition.  (but there was that one time that i did ask.  and i got something even better.)

even so, i'm left with the hesitation to continue.  to be my own best friend that says, go ahead.  ask.  with your free flowing, rain pouring heart mending pen of all pens.  ask..wait..get to work.  but at least ask.


who knew i had been waiting for such a storm?

name this necklace

new soul sisters, hot off the front porch...going out into the world tomorrow..

and a close relative, with moonstone and crystal...seeking a name

any suggestions?

smile

no sign of rain

                                   

    

my heart needs to break
wide open
i can feel it coming
like an impossible storm
on such an
unsuspecting day

i don't know
the reason
the rhyme
but i know enough
to recognize this
rhythm
this sequence
this ache

distracted
in the middle of a memory
unable
to catch the spinning thought
the one seeded cloud
that would
get everything going

i wait instead
to be surprised

august blues