Organize my jewelry collection

... to paint on the little chest of drawers. There are 15 of them, in 5 little compartments. Each compartment has two dividers on each side, but only one in the back. That has given me a design challenge. I do want it to look eclectic, because my jewelry collection is, but I don’t want it to become a jumble of patterns fighting each other for attention.

It’ll be another month or so before I will really get a chance to work on it. By then I should have the designs all figured out and it will go together beautifully. I’ll post a picture when it’s done. :)

i’ve always had a problem with jewelry boxes. They are so cookie cutter. I’m not the type that has a fine jewelry collection. I’m more into beaded things, baubles, artsy jewelry, chunky silver and so on. My stuff just doesn’t fit. So, I finally got something that has been working but I needed more. I’ve been using wooded stackable trays and today I added to my collection to allow for more categories and more room. They all just fit into the first drawer of my dresser. I need an odd number so i can slide the boxes over the other so i can see. organizing is so much easier when you have the right tools!

I organized a bunch of sets—enough to make 5 necklaces, a bracelet and some earrings. I put everything I need for each piece in a little zipper bag so when I have time, all I have to do is do it.

I can even take them with me if I go somewhere with downtime!

This is not exactly what this goal is about, but my giant bead collection will eventually become jewelry, and I might as well start organizing it now.

. . . I got the little dresser. It has 15 drawers and I will set it up on a stand in my closet. OK, the “stand” is a cinderblock, but it will be next to my shoes, so who cares! All the jewelry will be organized finally!

Yay!

But I’m excited about it!

Twelve years ago, the last time we moved, my husband left a huge bag of my stuff in the attic of our old house. Most of the items were my favorite dresses that didn’t fit since the birth of our 3rd child (five years earlier). Other than the fact that I’m not over it yet, what makes it really bad is that my great-grandmother’s cameo broach was on one of those dresses and is now lost forever!

I have lamented that loss all this time! Well, a couple weeks ago, I dogsat for my mom, and when she got home from out of town, she pulled out my grandma’s miniature dresser, full of “the family jewels,” literally!

It is almost all costume jewelry, but much of it was custom made for my great-grandma, and has timeless beauty. Anyway, it turns out that my mom wanted me to have this stuff. I didn’t take all of it. I have two brothers and a sister who might like some of the history, too, but after they go through what’s left, my mom is giving ME the little dresser and I am going to store my jewelry in it!!!!

Synchronicity RULES!!!

and it’s everywhere! 1) My husband is an excellent and dutiful jewelry buyer. He gets me expensive stuff, but finds it for good prices. He’s not a sugardaddy, after all! ;] 2) I have made tons (okay pounds) of my own jewelry and several people have given me storage containers of one size or another to keep it all in. This does not help me organize it. This helps me spread it to a lot of different locations. 3) Claire’s, Afterthoughts and Icing have these really wonderful red-line sales, where I have bought thousands of dollars worth of cute jewelry for 50¢ per item, probably a grand total of a hundred bucks over the years. These things are stuffed into a large shoebox, so when I want to wear something, I have to go digging for it, and it usually gets taken off and left somewhere else in the house.
No. I need to organize ALL of it at the same time. I only have one body upon which to wear any and all of my jewelry, so I really should have it all where I can get to it when I need it.

Good thing I got this taken care of. Now I have some idea of what items of jewelry I need.

On my list are:

5-10 22" real gold chains. They must be
    hypoallergenic and thin enough to hang a pendant 
    on but not thin enough to break.

Pendants and dangling earrings made from these 
    genuine healing crystals
       Blue Lace Agate
       Turquoise 
       Watermelon Tourmaline
       Ruby
       Red Garnet
       Citrine

Maybe I should drop hints to my loved ones.