Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Heirloom Christmas Ornaments From Mom's Jewelry

 Mom loved her costume jewelry and was never completely dressed without it. Her closet door was covered with it so she could see it all the time-I guess you could say it was part of her decor.

When she passed a few months ago, that was one of her belongings that we wanted to do something special with since it was so precious to her. 

My sister, Jackie came up with the idea of creating Christmas ornaments for the family and it was agreed that nothing else could be more appropriate for all that bling. 

We decided on a Saturday to get together. I had a large bag of styrofoam balls that had been bought at a yard sale several years ago that we could use. They were sent home with Jackie to play around with to give us some ideas and show us how to put them together. 

My thought had been taking the jewelry completely apart and using the components but our beading guru came up with using the whole necklace as the hanger and as the tassel at the bottom. That was genius. Her samples were elegant and easy to do.

To make the ornaments we gathered: wire cutters, jewelry making tools, glue, chenille stems [pipe cleaners], hot glue guns, styrofoam balls, fabric, other trims and whatever came to mind that we might use. 

 Some of our children, grandchildren and great, grandchildren made their masterpieces and they are all beautiful. My grandson, Rob, brought his children, Jenna and Kendall. It is great to be able to get together with my sisters and have a good time and trust me, we do have a good time. 

Debbie [in green shirt], Shirley's daughter



 Michelle, Jackie's daughter

 Summer, Shirley's granddaughter

Here are some of the finished ornaments. 




I coerced Jackie to let me video a step by step demonstration to show how easy these eye catching ornaments are to make. 


Most of these are on display all year round, not just at Christmas time so Mom's bling is all over.

I hope this gives you some ideas and if you come up with more, please feel free to share them with us.
God bless you and happy crafting
Carolyn Wainscott
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Here are some of my Christmas patterns available in My Craftsy Pattern Store @

http://www.craftsy.com/user/pattern/store/43851

there are video tutorials available for each of my patterns in case any extra help is needed











2 comments:

  1. Christine would have loved them. So would Vannie. They both loved shiny baubles. :)

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  2. Dear Carolyn,

    Thank you so much for posting this helpful tutorial. My husband's grandmother died last year, and I'd been hoping to do just such a thing with her costume jewelry for our upcoming Christmas celebration. I just have one question that I couldn't figure out from your video tutorial: how do you get the necklace to stay put in the center of the styrofoam ball? I know you threaded the necklace through the center of the ball, but do you then glue it in? Does that make it secure? Thank you for any advice you can give - I'm not very good with crafts, but I'm going to try!

    All the best,

    Ari

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