Repurpose Thrifted Jewelry In Your Home And Garden With These 12 Creative Ideas

Do you have a stash of thrifted jewelry you don't know what to do with? Perhaps you are looking for a way to use a collection of jewelry you don't wear anymore. Costume jewelry pieces can be repurposed for all sorts of projects, from sentimental displays to gorgeous home décor ideas. Their sparkle and shine can breathe new life into tired home décor, adding plenty of vintage charm and a dash of glam. These uses, which vary from candles and wall art to textiles and birdhouses, are a great chance to use your own old or thrifted jewelry to add beauty and visual interest to just about anything.

These DIY projects are a great way to give these beautiful bits and baubles new life as décor and keep them out of the landfill. They can also be a fun way to turn inherited pieces you won't wear into accents and pieces that you really can use. These DIYs are also perfect for using single brooches, mismatched earrings, broken strings of beads, and damaged pieces of jewelry.

Layout a design on a canvas or board and use the arrangement as a chic piece of vintage-inspired wall art. You can make images such as holiday trees, animals, and flowers. Frame them in a pretty ornate frame or nest them inside a shadowbox. Add vintage jewelry pieces to an existing print or canvas to add a little sparkle and three-dimensionality to create a unique piece of mixed-media art. Or use brooches, earrings, and disassembled beads as part of a mosaic design for your walls. 

Costume jewelry brooches are especially lovely to add as accents to throw pillows, particularly if you're going for a more maximalist or glam look in your interior. Use them in the center of a circular velvet pillow or at the corners of a rectangular pillow. You can also arrange jewelry into an assemblage in the shape of a bouquet for the center of the pillow or cushion. For a Victorian look, use a beaded earring or crystal as the center of a ribbon bow attached to the pillow.

If you want to add a bit of vintage charm to your lighting fixtures, use some hot glue to attach some old costume jewelry pieces around the shade, either scattered, in a grouping, or around the top and bottom edge for a unique lampshade upcycle. This is a great chance to use a single clip on earrings, brooches, and pendants. The light will catch the pieces and cast interesting reflections on the walls. You can also cover a simple lamp base with glued-on jewelry pieces or fill a clear glass lamp with a collection of vintage bits and bobs.

For a beautiful piece of Christmas decor, create a tree out of old jewelry pieces instead of ornaments. Use a foam cone to hot glue earrings onto and create a sparkly Christmas tree with beading, watch faces, pendants, and brooches around it, moving from larger pieces on the bottom to smaller ones on the top. Use a large piece of jewelry, ribbon, ornament, or vintage drawer pull as the top of the tree. You can scale this with any size tree form. These trees make beautiful pieces for your mantle, a holiday centerpiece, or a tablescape.

Add some additional interest and sparkle to your wreath this season by gluing some pieces of vintage costume jewelry in among the regular greenery or holiday ornaments. This is particularly festive if you use pieces of holiday-designed jewelry like brooches, earrings, and pendants in colors like red, green, and gold. You can also make a more rustic-looking wreath by grouping pretty brooches near the bottom and adding some ribbon. For stunning decor in more neutral spaces, use all clear crystal pieces around the wreath.

Beads strung on a wire can turn ordinary strings into cute handles for hanging things in your garden, like planters, birdhouses, birdfeeders, and more; just string some disassembled beads from old jewelry pieces on a chain, wire, or string of twine to create beautiful hangers for baskets and planters. You can stagger various-sized beads to cover the hanger and tie it off at the end. Use pearls for a glam look or wooden beads for a more natural and boho vibe.

You can create gorgeous windchimes or suncatchers for the outdoors or your window with beading and bits harvested from old costume jewelry. Use a stick or wooden dowel across the top and tie off pieces of wire, twine, or fishing line cut to various lengths hung horizontally across. You can also add small bells to the end of each strand to create a delightful tinkling sound in the wind. Or make a larger version of this for a pretty boho window covering or beaded door hanging; just use a wider piece of wood and longer strands of jewelry.

Some species of birds are attracted to the bright colors and sparkle of jewelry. A great way to lure them to your yard to enjoy the flora and fauna is to add a few sparkling pieces of jewelry to birdhouses, birdbaths, or feeders. Glue some clip-on earrings or brooches to the roof or exterior of your birdhouse or the top of the feeder for a look that's especially pretty in your garden when the sun hits them.

Turn ordinary flat-topped drawer pulls or handles into distinctive and unique vintage pieces. Use some sturdy adhesive like E6000 liberally on top of a plain knob or handle to glue on a beautiful vintage brooch or large pendant. If you have multiples of the same piece, use them together or use mismatched pieces for a charming cottage look that turns boring cabinets or drawers into vintage-style additions for your space.

Add some magnets to the back of vintage brooches to make them into adorable magnets perfect for your fridge, shelving unit, or filing cabinet. This works for both larger pieces and smaller ones, which can also be turned into push pins. Just remove any clips or fasteners, and then use hot glue or E6000 to adhere the jewelry to disc magnets or metal thumbtacks. They instantly make a memo board look glamorous and are much prettier than boring push pins or magnets for holding memos, photos, postcards, and other things you want to post.

Use hot glue or another strong adhesive to add a bit of vintage charm to any plain and basic picture frame. This works great for disassembled beading, clip-on earrings, and brooches, all of which can be arranged together to create a maximalist frame. You can also use them in selective spots around the frame's perimeter to add a little glamour and visual interest. To turn a plain frame into an ornate one, use an assortment of vintage jewelry pieces around the sides of the frame and then paint the entirety with gold spray paint.

Create adorable holiday candles by adding seasonal jewelry pieces that can be removed after Christmas or swapped out for a floral piece in other seasons. For an easy way to add some glam to any pillar candle, just add a vintage brooch or large earring. Simply stick the pin or backing into the candle to hold the jewelry in place. You can also use glue to add costume jewelry pieces or fragments to glass candle holders and votives.