15 Minute DIY: Jewelry-Holding Bulletin Board

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The antique, Baroque-y frame we bought for $20 at Ruff & Ready (1908 14th St. NW) sat in a corner of our bedroom, mocking our promise to paint a fake Picasso for it to display. Also guilt-inducing: the tangle of necklaces littering the dresser nearby. But a bolt of Real Simpleton brilliance hit: Couldn't these two things be turned into a combination jewelry holder/piece of art?

The plan: Create an upholstered bulletin board to put in the frame. First, the folks at Home Depot cut a piece of plywood ($5) to fit inside the 16 -inch by 20-inch frame. G Street Fabrics (see Gstreetfabrics.com for stores) yielded half a yard of thick, Hermes box-orange linen ($15) and some quilt batting ($5).

After gluing two layers of by-the-roll cork ($14, Michaels) to the board, we cut three rectangles of fabric (two batting, one cloth) about two inches wider than the board on all sides. Placing linen on top of batting, we pulled the layers taut, folding them to the back of the plywood. Then we staple-gunned the fabric to the back. Nails hammered into the frame behind the board held the posh pincushion in.

After hanging the creation on the wall, we used T-shaped pins ($4 per pack, G Street) to tack Forever 21 beads and other bijoux to the fabric. The effect was both attractive and well-organized and far, far better than any watercolor we could've done.