A Charlie inspired DIY project

Have you met my new friend Charlie?

He (she?) is very charming! Trust me. It takes quite a bit of convincing to separate me from my cash. And Charlie has done it...many many times! My good friend introduced me to Charlie on my 30th birthday during our girls afternoon out. I instantly fell in LOVE! Its like Claire's, but for adults. And SOOOO much better and prettier. And reasonably priced!  Really. The first necklace & earring set I purchased was $14.  And since then I have discovered the clearance section - which often has buy one get one free sales!  AMAZING. I have been back a few too many times. BUT I have never spent more than $3.50 on a piece of jewelry since. See what I said? AH-may-zing!

Want to know what is not so amazing? The fact that my new found love for big {statement} jewelry is not compatible with my smallish jewelry box. A jewelry box that I love as well...for sentimental reasons...my husband gave it to me our first Christmas after we were married. Anywho. Back to the subject at hand. Now days it is stuffed to overflowing. 

So being my crafty-thrifty self, I came up with a homemade solution.  First I loosely followed this tutorial to create a distressed painted effect on an old picture frame we had in the basement. 

Admittedly I was so excited to get started that I skimmed the tutorial. I did NOT sand the frame first. And I may have gone a little too hog wild with the wax. Okay I did go overboard with the wax! I ended up scraping most of it off with a putty knife and starting over again with the second paint layer. So I made the job just a tad more complicated than it should have been. So if you plan on doing the same. Stop. Read the tutorial. Then get to work. Just saying. Might save you some time. 

After my frame was painted (with leftover paint from our room - see the wall behind me in the first picture) and sanded to a nice shabby chic distressed level, I added a row of tea cup hooks. Then I stapled one of Granny's doilies to the back. And voilà!

My very own handmade shabby chic jewelry display frame! I kind of love it. Okay I really love it. So much so that I had to set it up and take pictures of it before I even got it hung on the wall! I am super pleased with how well it turned out AND the fact that it only cost me a couple bucks (for the hooks - everything else we already owned).

Want to know what I am not so pleased about? The fact that I stayed up waaaaay tooooo late creating this little beauty. I know. I know. I say that like every other day. But this time it is true. How do I know?

The next day I woke up at 8:11. That would be exactly 26 minutes before my son's school day is to begin. 26 minutes! And none of us were dressed or fed or anywhere near ready to start our day. So after checking my phone (bad habit of an addict!) and silently cursing my husband for turning off my alarm, I got up and kicked it into high gear. Pepsi fueled high gear my friends. 

And there were very few short cuts I could take that morning because the girls and I had to be at MOPS immediately after school drop. Meaning we all had to be nourished and presentable. For me that meant grabbing Monday's discarded wardrobe off the floor and brushing my teeth. Maybe my hair too?! No, unfortunately I think that got skipped. 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the kids had already eaten...apple sauce and goldfish. Hey it's better than nothing! After the fastest dressing and grooming session I have ever orchestrated with my children, I rounded out their breakfast of champions with mini powdered donuts IN THE VAN! Even the baby got one:)

Left over donuts for the mommy win!

Guess what? We made it ON TIME. Without any screaming, yelling or barking orders on my behalf. Miracles do happen. But WOW. I am in no hurry to repeat that again. I am still recovering. I finally today got my shower in and a good night's sleep. 

Oh you want to see more of my room? Ok. Please let me oblige you. Here is the one aqua wall. (The jewelry display will be on one of the white walls - don't worry.) My mom made us that beautiful quilt! Isn't it fabulous? My mom and I created the white upholstered headboard last summer. And the picture above the bed is made with Cricut silhouettes to represent my kids - my "blessings". The bunting was left over from my cousin's wedding barn dance this summer. Yup. I made that too:)

FYI - my husband had not turned off my alarm. I never set it. Oops! Second, the other reason I stayed up too late that night was I got carried away trying to give  this here blog a little face lift. Did you notice? Do you like it? Please say yes. My sleep deprived self would be crushed otherwise. No but seriously. How does it look? Are there any obvious things that need to be changed or fixed?