Heart-keepsake-jewelry-collage - Use vintage or costume jewelry to create a heart keepsake jewelry collage or new family heirloom. Last year, my step-father-in-law passed away a little more than a year after my mother-in-law. When a family member passes, one of the last things you want to do is sort through their belongs. It can be a painful reminder that a loved one is gone, but it’s something that has to be done. So after his passing, everyone banded together and cleaned out their home and boxed up their belongings.

After everything was sorted out, my husband brought home a bag of his mother’s costume jewelry. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so it sat in a little blue bag in our closet for months. Then it hit me…I’ll  use the jewelry to make Christmas ornaments.

Well, Christmas got busy and I never got around to making ornaments and I’m so glad that I didn’t. Why? Because Christmas ornaments only get brought out once a year and a keepsake is displayed all year. Then, I started to think…since I’m hosting a Valentine’s Day Spring Craft Blog Hop, I should make a Heart Keepsake Jewelry Collage for our stairway gallery wall. Yes, I’m still working on this wall and hopefully will have it done soon.

Supplies:

  • wood heart ornament
  • jewelry (enough to cover the surface of your chosen ornament)
  • wire cutters
  • hot glue gun or E6000 (Update 4/25/2016 – If this will be in the sun, use E6000 as hot glue will soften)
  • black paint (or your color choice)
  • foam brush
  • sticky contact squares or strong tape (optional)
  • ribbon (optional)
  • protective glasses (metal pieces may become airborne)
Create a family heart keepsake with old costume jewelry Click to Tweet

jewelry-heart-suppliesGather up your supplies and put on your protective glasses.

Paint-jewelry-heartRemove the ornament string/hanger. Paint the ornament and let it dry.

Cut-off-jewelry-postsWhile the ornament is drying, cut the backings off the jewelry to create a flat surface to glue on the wood ornament.filling-keepsake-heartStart dry placing the jewelry on the edge of the ornament. Once you get a placement you like, start gluing down the jewelry. Continue dry placing and gluing until the ornament is covered. If you have spaces between the jewelry, use beads from a necklace or bracelet to fill in the spaces.

jewelry hangerWhen the ornament is filled, use a bracelet or ribbon to create a hanger for the heart by pulling it through to the backside of the ornament. Use a glob of glue to secure the bracelet or ribbon to the back of the ornament. Place a sticky contact square or tape on the point of heart to help keep the heart in place.heart-keepsake-jewelry-collage - use costume or vintage jewelry to make a new family heirloom - Heart Keepsake Jewelry Collage. To display the heart, I used a ribbon ring that became the perfect “hook” to hang the heart on. To make the hook, I cut the shank of the ring in half and inserted it into a foam backed display case and hung the heart on it.

I’m loving how this heart keepsake jewelry collage came out! Now, my kids have a wonderful reminder of their grandmother and we have a new family heirloom.

What do you do with old jewelry?

Heart Keepsake Jewelry Collage

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69 Comments

  1. great creativity, I totally loved it. can i use metal ornament instead of wood? i want to create it for my mother. i want to give her surprise on her birthday. thanks for sharing this type of wonderful information with us.

  2. What a wonderful and creative way to display her jewelry! Love it! I’m going to include this in my Merry Monday Features next week 🙂

  3. I have a bunch of earrings that just sit in my jewelry armorie and this is a perfect idea to get them out and use them in a design like this. Thanks for your creative idea!!!

    Have a great day!!
    Karren
    xoxo

  4. I love this. I brought a bunch of old buttons home from my Mom’s when she passed away. Can’t wait to make some of these for my sisters and daughter and DIL for Christmas. Thanks for sharing. P.S. I love hearts – heart addiction.

  5. Erlene, this is beautiful, and even more special because it is so meaningful! Thank you for sharing it with us at Treasure Box Tuesday- pinned! It is one of my features this week- we get started tomorrow night (Mon.) at 7:00 p.m. CST!

  6. This collage looks really lovely. What a fantastic idea. Thank you so much for attending week 19 of #PureBlogLove and linking your fantastic blog post, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for our next party, Thursday 8 PM EST- Sundays at midnight. Your post has been added to the #PureBlogLove Pinterest board for all to see 🙂 Have a great day!
    Nicole

  7. This is beautiful and what a nice idea to pass onto the kids. I was thinking that if my daughter, when she’s older, would let me, I’d love to make her wedding bouquet (if she ends up marrying) out of old jewelry. Pinning this and sharing on my blog’s FB page today.

  8. Hello cute lady! I’m loving it. Pinned and tweeted. Thank you so much for partying with us. I hope to see you tonight at 7 pm. We love to party with you! Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls

  9. Erlene, I really love what your project! You did an amazing job. I think my mom had a big box of old jewelry so I’m going to send her this link. I’m wondering if we could make something like this. Thanks!

  10. A lovely idea! A piece of memories and a welcoming sign to decorate your home with. I had to pin it on the Ultimate Pinterest Party 🙂
    Charlotte – My Green Nook

  11. This is beautiful and so heartfelt! I have been lucky enough to never really experience a death to someone very close to me. What a beautiful way to honor them.

  12. What a clever way to display costume jewelry. I love it. I have lots of pieces which I just didn’t want to party with. I like the Christmas ornament idea! Putting this on my to-do list!

  13. What a beautiful way to honor your mother-in-law and add a gorgeous work of art to your stairway gallery. I need to go clean out my jewelry box. I would love to do something like this. Thanks for sharing.

  14. Hi Erlene,
    This is my first time to visit with you, and ………
    What a great idea, it is really a darling and very meaningful piece. I have a whole tray of my late
    Mother-in-laws jewelry that we don’t know what to do with……….everyone in the family has taken
    the things they want, so think this is a great idea that I might try…………
    Thanks so much for the idea.
    Blessings, Nellie

  15. This is a brilliant idea. I have my gran’s jewelry but don’t wear it much so this might be a good thing to do. I was wondering whether it would be good to place a bit of felt at the back to make the card sturdier and cover up the chains sticking out of it?

    1. Amanda, that’s how I felt! I wasn’t going to wear any of the jewelry, but I couldn’t bring myself to donate it. Making this heart was a great way for me to use the jewelry and have something to display that would remind us of grandma.

  16. What a fabulous use for some special old jewellery. Brilliant in every way. I usually keep all old and broken jewellery and have used bits and pieces for other projects but I really like this idea.