Yesterday I started selling fabulous $5 jewelry. Yes, you heard me right, FIVE-DOLLARS! I’m not sure what the best part is; that they’re cute, inexpensive, or both! I have never in my life been remotely interested in selling an at-home product, until now. Getting this little side business set up has been fun. Last Saturday I spent the whole day in the garage building pegboard displays that are now hanging in my stairwell adorned with these beauties. Last night I had an open-house where every guest left with at least three items. Oh and I’m loving the fact that I can put on an outfit and go “shopping” for the perfect jewelry right in my own home! Here are just a few examples what I have—necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings. The variety is amazing!

I got my sewing machine out this week. That’s usually a once-a-year occurrence and it normally happens closer to Christmas when I get an itch to sew pajamas. This week though, I tried my hand at sewing valences for our kitchen windows. I got the fabric from Hawthorne Threads. I absolutely love their material! And their prices are reasonable too! But, I had a hard time finding a free pattern online. This site was the best I could find. It was a bit hard to follow because of the lack of illustrations. But really the project wasn’t hard at all. If you can sew a straight seam, you can make valences. Wait, who’m I kidding, I can’t even sew a straight seam, and they still turned out pretty nice.

Before:

After:

Two things I learned repainting this dresser:

1. Ask the paint guy at Home Depot to add primer to the paint.
2. Drawer pulls are not standardized. I wanted to replace the original pulls, but couldn’t find any that fit appropriately.

I’ve had a few people interested in doing the photo gallery, so I just wanted to post a few more tips and instructions.

I printed my photos with Fotoworks. It’s a company in California that does professional printing. I highly recommend them. They do great quality work, and they’ll send your prints to you in the mail.

I bought the foam board from Hobby Lobby, the local craft store. I think I paid around $6 for a 36×40″ board. I cut the board with a rotary cutter and self healing mat. I’m pretty sure an exacto knife would work fine however. Just be careful and use a straight edge. You might ask if the store would cut the board for you.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, I used a spray adhesive to mount the pictures. But here’s where I’d do something differently. I recommend using an adhesive like 3M’s Photo Mount Spray Adhesive. I didn’t use an adhesive that was specifically for photos, and I had some bubbling. No good. I think using the photo adhesive would have solved the problem.

Also, when you use the spray, use a light, even coat. Too much adhesive will make the photos bubble as well.

Hope these tips help. Let me know if you have any other questions!