My much needed jewelry organization

My chest of drawers was a definite eye-sore with jewelry, sunglasses, body products, papers/receipts and everything else in between strewn all over it. Whatever the item of the day was, it ended up there. Oh, just got back from vacay? Just throw those travel-sized bottles of whatever product on there. Mind you, I would tidy it, but it would slowly turn into mayhem in no time. The last time I really organized it, I bought two baskets from Target (see below), the one to the left had my body products, such as creams/lotions, facial products, deodorants, etc, and the other had smaller jewelry in their boxes, sunglasses, bangles and soon enough hairbands ended up in there too. Then if I was hiding something from my son, I'd throw it in either one. When I finally cleaned both baskets on Sunday, I either said "What is this?" half the time, or "Oh, I forgot about this!" the other. I found an Easter Egg I was supposed to give my son at Easter, a keepsake pacifier :| and small parts to his toys that we thought he'd swallow way back when.

Nope, this is no joke. It got out of hand :/

The bulk of my jewelry was hanging to the right of my drawers in a 80-pocket Hanging Jewelry Organizer that I bought a few years ago from The Container Store. Even though it has clear pockets, whatever I put in them got lost since I put more than one item per pocket. So basically, I was only wearing jewelry I could see or was easily accessible, aka, thrown on my chest of drawers :/ When I did the big clean, I rediscovered jewelry I completely forgot about! So I threw out stuff that turned (cheap jewelry) and organized bracelets and earrings by color into the pockets. Still more than one per pocket, but at least they were color coordinated. The necklaces, I put clear push pins on the wall and hung them on. When I finally finished everything I could actually see what I had. It took about 3 hours!!

The next day I was online looking for earring organizers, I tried Amazon, saw a good one, but that involved drilling holes in the wall and I didn't want to do that (nor do I even know how, ha!) So I went onto my trusty fav website, The Container Store and saw some stuff that looked interesting and jumped up that instant from my desk and went to the store.  They're currently having their Happy Organized Home Sale, perfect timing, so I got:

Acrylic Grooved Bracelet Stand, $7.99

Acrylic Folding Earring Screen, on sale for $9.99 (reg. $14.99)

4-Section Acrylic Swivel Organizer (for my rings), on sale for $6.99 (reg. $9.99)

As you can see, it's easy to get organized on a budget. I couldn't wait to get home that evening to see if everything would fit or if I even needed it all. I did. Everything is a lot more organized and I'm pleased...though it sort of looks like an jewelry store now :D 

Earring rack, color coordinated, studs to the bottom

Necklaces on push-pins

80-pocket organizer, earrings to the top, bracelets to the bottom, the other side doesn't have much

Large hoop earrings and charm/link/tennis bracelets on the bracelet stand

Rings, small earrings, and a brooch in the swivel organizer

The last two days have been heaven being able to wear jewelry I couldn't see before! I plan on getting Aye'Shanti to help me make a nice jewelry holder for the wall behind my chest of drawers. I want to maybe move the necklaces onto that. I've also been meaning to put that poster on my wall into a frame ever since I got it at my baby shower nearly 4 years ago. I tried, I swear, it's just hard to find one that fits :( When I update the wall I'll post about it. That's my next mission!

Got my Aye'Shanti Designs Order!

It came with a beautiful understated card with an embossed gold purse on it. Inside, a lovely handwritten note. Even the plastic wrapping was sealed with gold tape! I'm a sucker for presentation.

The short Colors in Flight earrings (feathers) were custom hand-painted for me in the colors I selected and sealed to repel water. She even did the water test before-hand. Because of this sealant, the feathers aren't limp and will hold the form they're sealed in. They kind of have character!

My first pair of crochet earrings, I'm excited! Love the gold accent of the hoop inside the edges.

Even the head of our HR dept here at work and another coworker marvelled at how nice my earrings were!  Both have backs in them which I appreciate. It drives me nuts when I get earrings without them and I hate removing from one pair to put in another. Just a pet peeve *shrug*

What are you waiting for? Head to her Mango, Paper, Scissors Etsy store and start shopping! ;) She makes custom orders and even ships to Canada. If you want to give her free reign to design something special for you, she'll do that too. She doesn't make two of the same kind of earrings either, everyone's design is unique. She made me a pair of purple flower earrings with a gold chain hanging from them in 2009 and I was the only one who had them. She's also sweet, accomodating and a pleasure to do business with, that's why she's had loyal clients for the last 2+ years.

Here are my purple earrings, I still get compliments on them whenever I wear them to this day:

Some of my Summer favs from her current collection:
Scrapstress: Calypso

Banana Leaf Collection: Turks & Pink

Perfect earrings to make your outfit pop!

Check out and follow her two blogs:
Mango, Paper, Scissors
Aye'Shanti Designs

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Pay/half has feathered earrings, $4!

Of course handmade earrings look more authentic, but these are good if you have a budget. Check here for a location near you.

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Cheap Finds, Fri July 8th

Heyyy, denim wrapped frayed earrings at my local beauty supply store (bss), 99cents! They look handmade, minus the handmade cost. I love supporting handmade artists, but let's face it, we do need some cheap stuff to wear everyday.

Don't be afraid to check out what your local bss has in the accessories department.  Yes, a lot may have gold earrings that are too gold (aka cheap) and flimsy looking, or silver that looks like foil paper, but some have hidden treasures ;)

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