Earring Box Tutorial

Well, I either completely stumped you yesterday with my clue and photo, or no one wanted to guess! Either way, I'm back with the photos and tutorial I promised.

I'm going to show you how to make this beautiful, and super easy, earring box.

This is an inexpensive and easy project to make. And it's something you can customize to your room or personality. I think these would even be great as gifts!

Here's your supply list:

unfinished shadow box with hinged door
one piece of cardboard
fabric
ribbon
paint
hot glue gun
stamps & other accessories to embellish the box

Start with your unfinished box. I found mine at AC Moore near the picture frames. These were actually labeled as scrapbook page display boxes. I believe mine was $9.99 and I was able to use a 40% off coupon- so these are very reasonable.

I used acrylic paint to paint the front frame only. You can paint as much or as little of the box as you'd like. I would do this step first so the box has time to dry while you're working on the insert.



While your paint is drying, you need to measure the opening of your box. Mine was roughly 7" by 9". Cut a piece of cardboard (from a box that you're going to recycle because they're sturdier than cereal and other boxes) slightly smaller than your opening. You want it to fit snugly, but you also need to leave a tiny bit of space for your fabric. I cut my insert a quarter of an inch smaller all the way around to allow for this.

Cut your piece of fabric out, allowing an extra two inches to fold over the cardboard. Mine was cut to 9" by 11" since my cardboard was about 7" by 9". Lay the cardboard down on the piece of fabric you have just cut, making sure the right side of the fabric is facing down. Using your hot glue gun, fold the fabric over to the back of the cardboard and secure it with a dot/line of glue. I found it easier to secure the middle section on one side, and then work my way out towards the edges. Make sure to pull your fabric taut during this step.



Once your fabric is secured, you will need to tie the ribbon around the insert which will hold the earrings. I used ivory satin ribbon that was 1/4" thick. You can use wider ribbon if you'd like, but I wouldn't go narrower than that. Tie your ribbon securely around your insert, knotting on the back side. I spaced mine approximately 2" apart from each other to allow for longer earrings. You can customize this based on how long your earrings are.



Once you have finished tying your ribbon, flip the cardboard insert over and make sure your ribbon lines are straight. Secure them in place with a tiny dot of hot glue. I put one in the middle of each strand, and one to each side, centered. This will help keep the ribbon from sagging once your earrings are hung. Be sure to secure the ribbon on the back side of the insert with hot glue as well.



I wanted to jazz up my insert just a tiny bit. So using my Simple Alphabet set from PTI I stamped the word bling across the bottom in Palette noir ink. I like to do this step after the fabric and ribbon are attached to the cardboard, because it can shift during each step. This way, I knew my words would be straight.



Now, with any luck, the paint should be dry. This is the fun part! You get to embellish your box any way you'd like. I wanted the focus to be on the earrings inside the box, so I just did some simple stamping on the frame in some Palette Boudior Blush ink. You can stamp on your frame, cover it in paper, decorate with stickers/glitter/paper flowers. Get creative!



Once you're finished embellishing your box, you're ready to put the insert in. Slide it in, and if it's a little tight, gently push it in being careful not to bend the cardboard. Then, just add your earrings and you're finished!



I'd love to see photos if you make one. Be sure to link back to me so I can see them!

Have a wonderful weekend. We're hoping for warmer temperatures and sunshine. I have quite a bit of work to do in the garden, since I wasn't able to work outside at all this week. It's a good thing we have Monday off, I might actually be able to finish everything on my to-do list!