Ingenious Idea!

Well, I've been MIA for a while, thanks to Spring Break with the kids and a sudden urge to completely reorganize our office/my scrap area. But, I've also managed to finally complete a cool project I've been working on.

Those of you who know me, know that I am a collector of scrap stuff, especially embellishments and ribbon. I've looked at that nifty Clip-It-Up, but the price tag left that out of the question completely. Then, thanks to another CTMH consultant, I stumbled across a do-it-yourself version of this expensive toy, made entirely out of lamp parts!

After a few go-rounds with the guys in Hardware at Lowe's (who, in my opinion, never help a woman unless she hunts them down), I wound up ordering most of my hardware from an online lamp store. Now, let me tell you, before you look at the picture, mine is nothing spectacular, and I went plain black because 1) the color works with my other stuff and 2) we had leftover spray paint that color. So, if it's hard to see, I'm sure you can find "prettier" examples out there in cyberspace.

So, here it is: my DIY version of the Clip-It-Up. Nothing fancy, but it works REALLY well! And I love having all (OK, a few) of my goodies out where I can see them. I did have a few of the clips on hand, from some curtain rings I no longer needed, so I used some of those. I also used some plastic hang tabs on most of my items. The downside to these is that they aren't really reusable, but I had them anyway, so I'll use them and get more clips later. You can also use safety pins to clip up your packages; they probably take up less room than the clips so you can fit more on.

The beauty of this is that you can make it as wide or narrow as your space allows. It's pretty much gonna be 30" tall, because that's how the lamp rod comes, unless you are handy (or hubby is) and can cut it down. I didn't feel it was worth the trouble. The big thing is that your base (which is a terracotta plant saucer) needs to be about as large as your largest spinner so it wont tip over.

The base is the most expensive part of this whole deal, but even so I think I got mine in under $25. I think that was way better than retail on the real thing! Now, are you all set to make your own?! Here's the link to instructions for the one I made: http://forum.rockymountainhobbies.com/showthread.php?t=3272&highlight=spinning
I'm sure you can find more if you Google make your own clip it up or diy clip it up, something of that nature.

I wound up not using any finial (as called for) because all the ones I found were too small. Oh, and I purchased old lampshades from a thrift store (the Morningstar Treasure Chest II in New Lenox, for those of you in the area) for my racks as it was cheaper than buying new frames. Plus, I bought the most beat-up ones they had, so nobody was probably going to buy them for anything else! I bought the saucer and lamp rod at Lowe's, but everything else I ordered online from The Lamp Shop; my total was about $7 including shipping.

If you find anything to be tricky, feel free to ask me for help. I found it easier to just do it myself once I had all the right parts than to try and follow the written instructions! Good luck, and enjoy!