My eldest got her ears pierced last summer and has amassed a significant earring stash. A couple of months ago she mentioned making a holder of some sort in a picture frame with net to hook the earrings through.

The idea stayed lodged in the back of my brain until I noticed an embroidery hoop in one of my favourite haberdasheries. In that moment the Wall hanging decorative earring and jewellery holder was conceived.

For this project I used;

* 3 x 15 cm embroidery hoops,
* 2m ish of 2.5 cm wide ribbon,
* 20cm from a 1.5m wide roll of netting ( lace or some kind of holy fabric Batman would also work ) I doubled up as the fabric was flimsy, I think two layers will be sturdy enough,
* paint, black acrylic mixed with a very small amount of water,
* a small metal ring 2 cm across.
* hot melt glue and super glue.

I started by separating the hoops, painting them black and leave them to dry.

I wanted the screws to be hidden behind the ribbon, and a glimpse of shiny brass would just be distracting, so I painted the screw heads but not the threads at this point, black as well. On the one I’m planing for myself I want to see the screws, I think there’s something quite beautiful about them.

I cut the netting so that there was some excess and placed it inside the embroidery hoops. As I doubled up the netting I cut two pieces for each hoop I was using, I lay one piece of netting on top of the other and from then on held the net together and treated it as one piece.

I then tightened the screws on the hoops just enough to hold the netting firmly.

I turned over the hoops and once I was sure the netting was tight in the hoop, I glued the netting to the inside hoop with hot melt glue  (inside hoop only, this was important as I was going to separate the hoops again).

I just glued the sections where the ribbon was going to run through the hoops at the top and bottom. I only glued down the netting for the same width as the ribbon I would be using.

Once the glue had set I trimmed off the excess netting, but only trimming at the top and bottom where I had glued it.

I was leaving the sides that were unglued, untrimmed. This makes it a lot easier to pull the netting tight when I put it all back together again.

Then I threaded the small metal ring through the ribbon before starting assembly.

I found one that looks like brass in the bottom of my craft box, no idea where it came from. It was perfect and makes the hole thing so much easier and neater to hang when finished. This is not essential, the loop of ribbon work also work.

Putting it all together took some time, it was more that a bit fiddly.

This is were pre- gluing parts of the netting really helped.

With the embroidery hoops back together, but very very loosely, I had to thread the ribbon through the back and keep the netting on the front.

I then tightened the screws again, just enough to hold everything in place.

Next I hung it up, adjusted the spacings, pull the netting tight, and made sure the ribbon was tight at the back. Once I was completely happy, I tighten the screws off and then rechecked.

Gently I took it down and placed it face down on my work surface.

I then ran a thin bead of super glue all the way around ( where the two hoops come together and the netting is sticking out ) once it was dry I trimmed off the rest of excess netting. I touched-up the paintwork and painted the screw heads again and the threads this time.

To finish I added a bow on top of the metal ring it was to hang from.

I hope you enjoyed my  guide to how I made my daughters earring holder.

I’ve got to make one for myself now, I will defenatly post some photos.

Any feedback on the tutorial is very welcome, especially if you have a go and make your own, I would love to see it.

Shelley