Repurposing Old Ornaments
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Giving Life to New Ornaments
After years of Christmases, I had so many old ornaments that I was really close to selling or giving away. However, buying all new ornaments is expensive, and this holiday season I just couldn’t find what I was looking for. I’ve seen people make really beautiful ornaments by repurposing old ornaments, so I thought I would give it a try. No harm, no foul as they say!
The Supplies
First I picked up a couple of metallic paint colors from Target that I liked. Then I ordered some Rub ‘n Buff from Amazon (scroll to the end for links to what I used).
First Up: Painting
Next, I grabbed my old red, green, gold and brown glittered ornaments to test on. I hoped that the glitter would give it the texture I was looking for. I used some of the colors directly out of the container, but for others I mixed a few of the colors together to get my desired result. Then I simply covered the ornaments in a layer of paint and set them on wax paper to dry.
As they dried, it became clear that they needed another coat because the glitter was showing through. However, after just one coat I could already tell that I was going to love the end result!
Bring on the second coat!
Perfecting the Vintage Look
Once the second coat dried, I took some rub ‘n buff (in the color European gold) to the gold tops on the ornaments to make them look a little more vintage. This took them from looking like I had painted ornaments to truly looking like I bought them this way. Check out the difference it made!
Move on Over, Ornament Hooks!
However, I wasn’t done just yet! I ordered some black velvet ribbon to tie these to the tree. It gives them a more sophisticated, high end look than using the typical metal ornament hooks. Tip: After you cut the ribbon, burn the cut ends carefully to keep it from fraying.
Finishing Touches
The final step was taking a sponge tip brush and dabbing on small amounts of rub ‘n buff in random spots on the ornaments to create more dimension. I didn’t grab a photo of that step, but it’s pretty self explanatory.
What a difference some paint and new ribbon made! I hope that you’ll give this project a try for repurposing your old ornaments too!
Looking for more DIY projects? Check out my favorites on the blog here.
Materials, Tools & Supplies:
