Earring holder

During my husband's second year of B school, we were living in a two bedroom duplex in a house built in 1908. This older house had little built-in storage, so we were constantly trying to combat clutter. And since one of us is a sentimental pack-rat (yes, I fully admit that I cannot let go of items), the clutter always seem to grow.

To control my wardrobe, we bought nice looking storage boxes to store sweaters and the like. My jewelry went into two large jewelry boxes. My scarves were stored in a drawer in my nightstand. And, once put in those places, those items stayed there. These storage solutions did help with the clutter, but they did not help my wardrobe. If something was out-of-sight, it was out-of-mind. I quickly realized that, being a very visual person, I did not wear clothing or jewelry that I could not see. Therefore, I began a search for new ways to store clothes and jewelry--ways that would let me see the jewelry and clothing, but would still be neat and organized.

I stumbled upon this picture on the Pottery Barn website (unfortunately, the link no longer works and they no longer have this item).

I fell in love with the idea of using my jewelry as art, and realized I could easily DIY the earring holder. So, I took a cheap $2 wooden frame (from Wal-Mart), silver paint, small wire nails, and some thin wire.

First, I painted the frame silver--I hated the dark black frame and wanted it lighter. Then, I decided on the number of rows of wire I wanted. I debated using two or three, but decided on two. I used small wire nails and hammered them into the back of the frame where I wanted the wire to end and begin. With a pair of needle-nose pliers, I attached the wire, twisting it tightly around the base of the nails. Then I added my earrings.

I loved the finished look! I could see my earrings, yet they were neatly corralled. This was a perfect storage solution for our apartment.

Even though I made this holder a while ago, I'm posting it now because I recently unpacked it and realized that the wire had stretched and bent during our move. :-( Bummer. I decided to fix up the frame a little bit (the corners were separating, so I filled them with putty) and make a new jewelry holder. This time, I'm going to use cup hooks and hang my necklaces from them. I now have two new earring holders (one from redenvelope.com and one from Target), so I no longer need the PB-inspired earring holder anyway. I can't wait to finish the necklace holder and post pics!

Living (or not) with lupus

Lupus seems so much worse during winter. The cold temperatures really mess with my joints, causing more pain than during the warm, humid summers. This makes living a "normal" life during the winter months very difficult. Things that other people dread but still do (e.g., going outside to scrape the ice off the car windshield) can cause me so much pain that I'm basically immobilized for the remainder of the day. In the winter, I have to be more careful about planning and juggling things.

I know that doing certain outdoor activities will render me useless for several hours, if not days. So, while I plan to go ice skating with my husband tomorrow night, I know I should keep my Saturday clear so I can recover. I also know that I should do some work (I'm way behind on writing articles) before we leave to skate, since I won't be able to type after being in the cold.

Because of lupus, I have mixed thoughts and feelings about winter. I want a good long freeze to kill the eggs of the bugs that will invade my very organic garden this summer. But I don't want to feel the freeze myself. I long for summer, when I can feel a little more normal.