A couple of years ago, my fully decorated Christmas tree fell down, shattering a lot of ornaments. Being one who likes to make lemonade when I’m handed lemons, I held onto the broken ornaments with the intentions of making something with them. Even broken, the ornaments were too pretty to just throw out.
I had the idea of making a mosaic picture frame with the broken ornaments and I finally got around to it this year. Spoiler alert…I love how it turned out!
I took a cheapy black photo frame and spray painted it a nice holiday gold color. I did a quick coat of spray paint and didn’t worry about making it perfect since I knew I’d be covering it up with the ornaments.
Then I started hot gluing small pieces of the broken ornaments onto the frame. At this point, I must warn you that as far as craft projects go, this is a dangerous one! With little pieces of glass ornaments everywhere, I had a to be very cautious not to cut myself. I was also very careful to clean up the project area afterwards to make sure there weren’t any tiny pieces of broken glass that slipped by me. This is definitely not a project for kids!
Back to the project- I started in the corner, gluing larger pieces onto the frame first. Since the ornaments are curved, I used a lot of hot glue to fill in gaps on their underside and get them to stick to the frame.
I kept gluing along the frame, trying to alternate the types of ornaments I was using.
Once I glued one layer of ornaments around the entire frame, I filled in the gaps between pieces with a second layer of smaller ornaments.
And here’s how the finished frame looks!
I love it! I’m so happy I was able to reuse the broken ornaments in a unique way. The texture of the frame is still a little rough, so this is a project I would keep away from kids even when finished. Even so, I’m very happy to display this frame for the holidays. I think it would make a pretty cool homemade gift too. The ornaments just look so festive, colorful, and cheerful!
What do you think? Have you found a way to reuse broken ornaments or turn other holiday mishaps into something new?
I'm sharing this project over at NewlyWoodward's Dare to Give Homemade Gifts party, House of Hepworths, and DIY Showoff.
8 comments:
that's so pretty!! i would have been devastated if that happened, but this is a great way to let those ornaments live on!
This is BEAUTIFUL! I'm totally impressed. Not that I doubted your skills, I didn't. I just never would have thought of this reuse. Thanks for sharing this on Dare to DIY. It would really make a wonderful gift. (And I'll bet you have lots leftovers that could make other frames.)
That frame is lovely! You are so creative. I never would have thought of saving broken ornaments. I don't want my tree to fall....but I might smash a few news to "steal your idea". Thanks for your kind works and stopping by my blog.
Wow. Really makes me wish I kept all of our broken ornaments from when my oldest was little and thought it was fun to take them off the tree and throw them across the room. Since then we have been buying plastic ornaments. Love your frame. So beautiful.
Jamie
http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/
P.S. I have a linky every Monday would love you to stop by Monday and link up.
I like how your recycle/upcycle! Cute idea!
Way to recycle!! This looks so pretty! Especially if there was a candle near it to reflect the light! Did you cut yourself at all working with shards of glass?
I love this! It's such a great way to still get some use out of those broken ornaments!
This is such a delight! I wish I had kept all of those old ornaments that ended up broken under the tree. Just sweet!
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