Making Holiday Ornaments from Old Jewelry

Updated for 2025

One of my favorite holiday projects is turning broken or unwanted jewelry into sparkly ornaments. It’s an easy, low-pressure way to reuse pieces you’d never wear — and it’s surprising how many ornaments you can make from just a few damaged necklaces or bracelets.

You don’t need matching components or traditional Christmas colors. In fact, the slightly mismatched, vintage look is part of what makes these ornaments so charming.

Materials

You likely already have most of these on hand:

• Broken or unwanted fashion jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants)
• Wire cutters (do not use your good wire cutters for this!)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Jump rings (optional)
• Jewelry wire (optional, but helpful for heavier pieces)
• Ribbon or ornament hooks
• Chain-nose pliers or flat nose pliers
• Replacement rhinestones or beads (optional)

Step 1: Choose Jewelry to Repurpose

Start by rounding up jewelry that is broken, missing stones, or simply not your style anymore. Necklaces and bracelets work especially well because they often contain multiple usable sections. Old clip style cluster earrings are also great.

For example, one sparkly necklace I used was missing a rhinestone and wasn’t something I would wear, but it turned out to be perfect for ornaments.

From this rhinestone necklace, I was able to make multiple rhinestone 'icicle' ornaments and a couple of wreaths too. The bright blue color really sparkles on the tree.

Step 2: Separate the Jewelry into Usable Sections

Using flush cutters, carefully cut the necklace or bracelet apart at the jump rings or chain links. As you disassemble the piece:

• Set aside plain chain for other projects
• Group decorative sections together
• Don’t worry about symmetry — ornaments don’t need to match

Chain is detached either by opening jump rings or cutting links that attach it to the pendant. Don't worry if some parts are missing stones. You may be able to cut around that section or take stones from another area to glue them in.

Use your wire cutters to cut apart the jewelry. Look for areas that are big enough to be ornaments on their own or that you can combine with other pieces.

Once separated, many jewelry components take on a completely new look — vintage, elegant, or whimsical — even if they weren’t originally holiday-themed.

Step 4: Add Decorative Elements

Look through your stash for small pieces that can add interest:

• Earring components
• Leaf or filigree shapes
• Small charms

I used some leaf components from earrings to:

• Create angel wings
• Add decorative accents to central components

Hot glue works well for lighter elements. If something breaks while you’re working, don’t fight it,  sometimes the new shape is even better than the original.

Step 5: Embrace Unexpected Designs

One of my favorite parts of this project is letting your imagination take over.

• A rhinestone heart became the center of an angel ornament
• The same piece, altered slightly, looked more like a flower
• Another necklace component (above) reminded me of an upside-down candle
• The side pieces? They looked like snowmen holding beer mugs — so that’s exactly what they became

Step 6: Build Larger Shapes (Trees, Wreaths, Etc.)

Bracelet components are especially good for building larger ornaments.

For example, I connected rectangular bracelet links into a Christmas tree shape. Because these pieces were heavier, hot glue wasn’t strong enough. Using craft wire to hold the components together is a better option for durability.

If you have multiple similar bracelets, you can easily make a whole set of tree ornaments.

Step 7: Add Hanging Loops

Once your ornament is assembled:

• Glue or wire a jump ring to the back
• Attach ribbon or an ornament hook
• Let everything cool and set completely before hanging

I spent an afternoon attaching ribbons to the backs of my ornaments using hot glue and was happy to finally use up some leftover ribbon I had saved for years.

Final Thoughts

You probably won’t have the same jewelry components I used, and that’s the fun part. This project is all about working with what you have and letting the materials guide the design.

If you don’t already have broken jewelry on hand, garage sales and thrift stores are great places to find inexpensive pieces to repurpose.

I hope this inspires you to look at old jewelry in a new way and turn it into something sparkly for the holidays.