Is your Christmas tree up and ready yet? You might think it is, but it’s not, believe me! It’s missing these glamorous ornaments that you can easily make out of old broken jewelry! Not to mention that these easy to DIY items would be the perfect Christmas present for any handmade lover!
Here’s how to solve this problem!
What You Need
Look for any broken jewelry and old beads you might have, in different sizes, colors and textures. The more you have, the better. From all the beads you have, look for the heaviest one so you could later use it as a base of your ornament. I have lot of beads, but you probably know that already.
You also need some aluminum wire (I bough mine from Michaels, 30 gauge worked fine for me), but fishing line / wire works too if you know how to make the proper knots. What you need is a thread that is thin enough to go through the beads easily, but resistant at the same time.
The Making Of – Step by Step
Start with a 15-in long piece of wire, and a small bead in the middle of it. This small bead will work a stopper for the next beads you are going to use for this ornament. Place the small bead in the middle, bend the wire in half and pull it through the rest of the beads so you would get a 4-in long ornament. 
What you need to know for getting the best out of it, is that you should start with the bigger and heaviest bead that you have, then go with the rest of them according to their size or color. For example, you can mix glass and metal for a glamorous look, but you can even throw a pearl or two in the middle of it for a greater effect.
Once you are done with the base, start working on the loop. You know, that 3-4-in long loop that you need for hanging the ornament in your Christmas tree. You can make the loop pulling each end of the wire through a few small beads, then knot them to close the loop…
…or you can use metal elements like those that you see below (they were upcycled from an old bracelet of mine).
And here comes another way to make the stopper at the base of the ornament. This is actually a bunch of hanging beads that work together to prevent the biggest bead from falling.
And here comes even more from the process of making these lovely tree ornaments:
Would you do something different with these broken jewelry? Share your thoughts and inspire a DIY lover to develop his own projects!
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