Holiday Crafts: Upcycle a Vintage Brooch into an Unique Ornament

Upcycle vintage brooches into awesome holiday crafts like this unique Christmas ornament!

I came to the sad realization last year that I had very few Christmas ornaments now that I’m living on my own (I never decorated my own Christmas tree in college). Last year I made several DIY Christmas ornaments, but I always feel like I need more to fill my tree. While walking through an antique store, I saw an adorable brooch that would be perfect for an ornament. Here’s how I transformed it into an unique Christmas ornament that will decorate my Christmas tree for years to come:

What You Will Need:

1. A vintage brooch. I bought mine at a local antique store for $4.95!

2. Twine or ribbon. If you can, use hemp twine or organic ribbon— they’re more eco-friendly!

3. Scissors

4. Low VOC spray paint (optional)

5. Glitter (optional, but who doesn’t want to use glitter?)

6. Spray polyurethane (optional)

How To Do It:

1. Clean your vintage brooch. You can simply clean it with a dry cloth or make your own DIY jewelry cleaner for a deep clean.

2. If you don’t want to paint or glitter your brooch, skip to step 5. Otherwise, it’s time to paint your brooch with low VOC spray paint! I painted mine red to go with the Christmas theme.

3. While your paint is still wet, sprinkle a little (or a lot) of glitter onto the brooch. The paint will act as the glue to keep the glitter on the brooch. If you didn’t paint your brooch, use school glue to adhere the glitter to the brooch.

4. I personally don’t care for having glitter all over my home from one glitter ornament, so I sealed the paint and glitter on my brooch with a quick coat of spray polyurethane. Polyurethane isn’t the greenest craft supply, but it does give a nice finished look and will help keep all of that glitter in place.

5. Turn the brooch over. Put the twine or ribbon through the brooch pin (pictured below). Then, tie the ends together.

Pretty simple, right? I love all of the character and sparkle the brooch adds, rather than generic ornaments that look the same. If you find 5-10 vintage brooches, you could even make a DIY garland for your Christmas tree or mantle!