pretty and functional, right up my alley.

this was also a small project this weekend that i have been meaning to do. this creative idea was stolen from my mother:


i like it because it is crafty and functional without looking like some nifty crafty organizer thingy you'd buy at a holiday bazaar and pawn off on some unsuspecting b-list relative. i also like it because it makes my everyday things like artwork. brian actually even liked it, a lot i presume, because he kept commenting on it. or maybe he just liked that we finally have something (anything!) hung on a wall in our master bedroom.

it took about a half an hour to complete and no swearing at all which is my kind of project. i used the glass in a frame i had as a template to cut a rectangle from a piece of canvas, about 2-3 inches larger all around than the glass. i sewed on five random shank buttons from the button jar all in a row. they are about 1½-2 inches apart and kind of large-ish in diameter, and you need the shank so there is some depth for the chains. then i ran a length of heavy-duty thread across the back from one side to another in a kind of Z pattern, pulling the canvas really tight around the glass so it would not shift. i was not so concerned about the sides but i didn't want the top to wrinkle funny and maybe drape from the weight of the necklaces. then i just reassembled the frame and hung it on the wall by my dresser and voila, we finally have something mildly decorative.