Sunday, November 25, 2012

Family Jewelry Christmas Tree



    Family Jewelry Christmas Tree









Frontgate Jewelry Tree with Pedestal
Did you see the 2012 Christmas issue of Frontgate?  It featured a Jewelry Tree with Pedestal (no longer available) that contains "more than 60 brooches and metallic buttons that are hand-set over shining gold paillettes, making each tree a one-of-a-kind masterpiece."            

When I looked at that tree, I thought about my mother's costume jewelry that I've had for nearly thirty years, and that of my mother-in-law, and the broken and damaged jewelry that I own, and the jewelry I no longer wore or wanted. My sister's and niece's jewelry - jewelry from the family.  This would be a perfect way to use the pieces of jewelry I had accumulated.

I got to thinking that it actually doesn't look like the jewelry tree would be too difficult to make.  I already had a 16 inch styrofoam tree,  a little ceramic urn for the base, gold paint, beads and rhinestones for filler, pins, glitter glue and a glue gun.

I really forgot to take pictures at the start.  This was a labor of love and I wasn't really thinking about photos. To begin, I needed to paint the white stryrofoam tree using FolkArt pure gold metallic paint. It really didn't take much to cover.

Next, I randomly glued the larger jewelry pieces all over the tree.  I broke down the necklaces and bracelets into smaller pieces before gluing.   If any pieces looked too bulky, I pressed them into the foam after gluing. I used pearl beads cut from necklaces (I had lots of these) as fillers around the tree. For a final touch, I used glitter glue to fill in any spaces after I had finished adding all the jewelry pieces.  This gave the tree a sparkly effect. 










This is a photo brooch that belonged to my mother (center with a bow on top)






















I added a picture of her to the brooch .   .   .
making this tree very special.





The width of the opening on the urn was the same width as the base of the tree so I had to place the finish tree on top of a little silver dish that I had before putting it onto the urn.


This is truly a keepsake that I will treasure and perhaps pass along  .   .   .

Enjoy!


























                                                    




22 comments:

  1. Gail that is fabulous! I could look at all the jewelry pieces in there for hours! Nice project and truly special!

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  2. This is a great way to recycle old jewelry in a personally memorable way.

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  3. This is prettier than the inspiration tree and so sentimental. Very nice!

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  4. This is just FABULOUS! I wish I had all that "junk" jewelry that my Mom and aunts had that I never wanted! Oh well- my mother-in-law is a costume jewelry fanatic and I suppose someday i could inherit hers... and forgive me for being snarky here- but it just wouldn't be the same. That brooche with your Mom's photo is beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration! Jusst beautiful- it's a shame to put it away after Christmas!

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  5. Gail, I love it! What a great job and the memories you have when you look at it is priceless, I'm sure.

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  6. I love it! This is so beautiful, as well as personal and special. It looks like the ladies in your family are real fashion plates. :) You should display it all year!

    <3 jen @ librarian tells all

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  7. how absolutely wonderful! gorgeous and special.

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  8. I am so impressed with your beautiful tree--and inspired! Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  9. Gail, my mouth seriously fell open when I saw your tree at Inspiration Friday! It is beyond gorgeous! I have shared this on our Facebook Page as well as pinned it. We will also be featuring at the next Inspiration Friday. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

    Heather and Vanessa

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  10. Now THAT is a beautiful "Little Thing"...I absolutely LOVE it! You have inspired me <3 Thank you so much for sharing!

    Wendy

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  11. This is beautiful! Love it and your mothers brooch! It looks awesome in that urn as well:)

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  12. Absolutely beautiful! You will be one of the features tomorrow at Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday.

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  13. Gorgeous tree and I love the sentimental aspect.

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  14. Found you through the Dedicated House. This is really, really gorgeous and yes, a nice way to turn a drawer full of baubles we don't want to throw away, into a decorative piece to treasure.

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  15. I have a box of jewelry sitting in my office right now that belonged to my mother-in-law that I had no idea what to do with. Now i am inspired, thanks so much for sharing on At the Picket Fence.

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  18. That is spectacular! Just gorgeous and a wonderful way to enjoy all of this beautiful jewelry. Happy holidays to you!

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  19. When I looked at that tree, I thought about my mother's costume jewelry that I've had for nearly thirty years, and that of my mother-in-law, and ... treecostume.blogspot.com

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  20. I have always wanted to make one of those and just hated to glue my old jewelry to the tree.
    Yours is so nice to look at , just beautiful

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  21. Your tree is just lovely! I'm feeling inspired to create one now!

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