DIY: Make a Cupcake Stand into a Jewelry Stand

You have all heard me talk about Laura before; she is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We met at a mutual friends' birthday party the summer before our 6th grade year of elementary school and I then remembered her our first day of 7th grade in 7th period band. I played flute, she the alto sax and she sat directly behind me. And for all you people snickering that I was a band nerd-I was not. Band was the schizznit back in junior high. All the cool kids did it. Anyway, turned out Laura and I had 3rd period math together as well so we ended up being pretty tight and still are (that's making a very long story short).

Now that I've moved back to Fayetteville, we live about a mile from each other, but our proximity in mileage way underplays how close we are.  I don't say this and mean it about a lot of people, but I...Love...Her. Tomorrow will mark her 30th birthday and I know just what to get her. We recently acquired mass amounts of jewelry via a Premier Jewelry party and she doesn't have enough space or places to store/display her beautiful pieces. 

We had chatted a little about what might work for her before I went on my last trip to Dallas and low and behold, look what I found at Home Goods for $15......

Booya! A 3 tiered food stand that is super chic and is crying out not to be stuck on a kitchen counter or in cabinet storage for the remainder of its days.  I picked out black which will go in Laura's bedroom or bathroom, but they also had shiny silver and brushed nickel (that I saw). 

I thought all the little scrolls would be perfect to hang earrings from.

From Hobby Lobby I grabbed 6 pages of scrapbook paper, glued 2 pieces back to back 3 times over, measured and cut them into circles and made a liner for each tier so the jewelry wouldn't catch or fall through the spaces in between the wiring. Here's how it turned out.

Then I staged it with my jewelry and had a photo shoot.........

I wish I could have styled it with earrings too.........but.......my ears are not pierced.  (enter gasp here).  I know, it's odd.  When all my friends were getting theirs done in 2nd grade my Mom wouldn't let me, and when in 5th grade when she said I could none of my friends were wearing earrings anymore so I just never got it done.  I've actually never had any piercings of any kind.  A boy once told me it was refreshing to see that I didn't have my ears done, so I'll stick with the refreshing instead of weird. 

Laura also wanted a Razorback pumpkin so I fixed one up for her too....

Happy Birthday Laura! You deserve all your birthday wishes to come true. 

On an even more personal note, I keep all my jewelry in what was my Granny's jewelry cabinet.  It was converted from a Corticelli Silk thread display cabinet from the early 1900s.  She lined each drawer with some batting and velvet and I would spend hours as a little girl covering myself with her jewelry and playing dress up.  When my Granny passed away in September of 2007 this is the one item I was willing to fight for from her estate, and I'm so glad I didn't have to wrestle my Mom for it.  Evelyn is already opening the drawers and covering herself in my jewelry daily.  I hope long after I've passed on that it stays in our family. 

 This is what it looks like under the velvet liners.  You can see where the

spokes use to be for the spools of thread. 

Again I want to encourage everyone to recycle old furniture or go to garage sales or flea markets and seek old old items to be made new again like the thread-turned-jewelry cabinet!  You can get some real steals on one-of-a-kind furniture if you just take the time to look.

December 30, 2011 UPDATE:

Here is how Laura styled her stand in her own house - looks great!