Island Baby: DIY Framed Accessory Holder

I used to hang my accessories using these hooks with adhesive backing because I hated poking holes in my wall. But the problem with adhesive hooks is that they would eventually lose their stickiness and fall off, never to stick again. Now my wall is scarred with ugly adhesive residue.

I needed a method of hanging my accessories that would hold up well and be able to cover the adhesive stains on the wall. So I made this:

I can't take full credit for the idea, though. I've seen similar projects on Pinterest and other blogs. I just had to figure out how to DIY it.

This was made around two weeks ago. I've already hung it up, but there was still a section of wall with adhesive residue that was still exposed. So I decided to make a smaller version to cover it up. I also documented the process so I could show you guys how I did it, in case you want to make one yourself.:)

What you'll need:

A nice picture frame.
A sheet of cork. Just plain cork. Make sure it doesn't have any backing like wood or hard board or else you won't be able to cut it.
Adhesive. I used my spray adhesive for this but I think using rubber cement or wood glue would work just as well, if not better.
Box cutter, ruler, cutting mat, and old newspaper (to protect your work area).
Fine gauge sandpaper

Where I bought my materials:

Picture frame - My original idea was to find one of those cheap, gaudy, carved, gold frames and spray paint it with a matte white. Surprisingly, those frames were hard to come by. But then I found this one. Though it's made of plastic and not quite as big as I wanted, it was exactly the look I was going for and I didn't even need to do any painting. I got this at the home section of SM Department Store. The bigger frame was, I think, Php 179.75 and the smaller one Php 129.75.

Cork - I found the cork in the office supplies section of SM Makati Department Store for Php 64.75. It came in an approximately 12"x18" sheet and was enough for the two frames.
The spray adhesive was something I already had from my thesis days. You can get it at National Bookstore or in hardware stores. Rubber cement and wood glue, of course, may also be found in hardware stores.

Instructions:

1. Remove the backing and the glass from the picture frame.

2. Trace the shape of the backing onto the cork and cut it out.

3. See if the cork fits into the back of the frame. If not, trim it with the cutter or sand it down. If you're OC like me, you can sand the ragged edges of the cork (it usually gets ragged when you cut it) to smooth them out.

4. You'll notice that the cork is a bit thicker than what the frame allows for so what I did was cut little notches in the corners so I could slip in the plastic tabs that held the backing in place.

5. Apply adhesive on the flat side of the frame backing (the one without the stand and the hanger loops) and stick it on the cork.

And you're done!

I took a cue from my sister and Anj's comments on my Instagram about using earrings as pins for the cork.

I got this set of earrings from AI Online Shop for Php 18.00. I also got bigger ones for my necklaces at Php 21.00 per set. The earring posts were a bit too long, though. So I trimmed them down with a wire cutter and voila!

You can either choose to let the frame stand or hang it up on the wall. I hung mine up using these small plastic hooks with tiny nails in them. (In the photo, you can see the adhesive residue I'm trying to hide)