Ever since I was a little girl way back in the 20th Century, I have been enamored of those Christmas Trees made from broken/damaged costume jewelry. This year, I finally made one!
Some of these pieces are ones I’ve had since I was a little girl and they’ve been accumulating since. I’m not saying they call came to me broken or damaged. Ahem. And a few of these pieces aren’t actually broken, just not something I’ll ever wear or that has any collector value.
The shadowbox frame was picked up at a thrift store a within the last couple of years with this project in mind. It was matte silver and looks like it maybe had fallen off the wall with a dented corner and marks on the backing where things had been glued to it. I painted it gold and left the inside surfaces of the frame the matte silver.
It’s wonderful! It is brimming with history and joy. And proving that even broken things can still sparkle.
4 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
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Beautiful!
I love how you highlighted certain pieces without making them scream for attention. The cute little poodle is absolutely perfect in its spot! Also, the way you laid out the pearls to look like garland.
@AudiobookLover I guess velvet is the standard background for these, so I was very glad to have had a nice green piece, big enough for this in my stash
@Tapestry That weird poodle is made with mink fur and some kind of leather for the face. So odd!
@AIMR All the instructions I read used glue: either hot or E6000. Since hot glue set quick, but doesn’t last long I didn’t want to use it and since E6000 stinks to high heaven and I’d be going at this for hours in December when it’s too cold to have windows open I didn’t want to use it, either. So I used Titebond Quick n Thick. Seems to be holding quite well.
Wonderful job recreating one of these! It looks like it’s from the twentieth century! It’s really beautiful. I also love this sort of thing and want one of my own. My mom has one that is a wood cutout which I think I want to try at some point.
Great art, and an I-spy game all in one.
The poodle steals the show, it reminds me of cats sitting in Christmas trees as if they are the main decoration (they probably are).
Wow! I love this! Turned out GORGEOUS and the poodle is definitely the piece de resistance!
I’m like a magpie with all the glittery bits… I gotta have them even if they are never worn. Or maybe more like Scrooge McDuck swimming through a pool of paste diamond jewelry…
I need to make some of these. Maybe even a lot of them.
THANK YOU! I am always drawn to the sparkles and also rarely wear them. I did wear them pretty frequently in my old life - loved a statement brooch or necklace or ring. But I just don’t have a place to wear these days. Gave up most of my high heels a few years ago, too. Probably would be miserable wearing the ones I just couldn’t part with nowadays. Sigh.
