A few years ago, it was all the rage that rekindled a use of old and broken vintage jewelry, bejeweled Christmas trees. While they were a great way to use heirloom and broken vintage jewelry, if you wanted to make on from scratch, it was going to cost you some serious money! Even if you spent only $2-$3 a piece, it was still going to cost you almost $100 to put one together! I still think they are pretty, so I decided to come up with a much less expensive version of Vintage Bejeweled Christmas Tree Art with items from the craft store including glue on gems. This is actually a great project to do in a group setting with a glass of wine or cup of coffee (Hint,hint,invite me over!). You can also go really fun and glittery and create a tree on a painted canvas with gems and glitter like we are doing in the studio!
Supplies To Create A Jeweled Christmas Tree:
-Picture frame and velvet backing or plaque wrapped in felt or velvet
-Craft glue that dries clear
-Glue on gems clear or colorful
Prepare the Surface Backing
To create a back drop, we used a wood craft plaque, a box of plastic rhinestones and green felt. The felt was wrapped around the back and glued and let dry.
Use tape to hold the sides down as the white craft glue dries.
Once the felt dries, lay out your gem pattern.
Sort your rhinestones and figure out which ones you want to use. We found laying the tear drop gems toward the top and some of the bigger ones to build out the center and create a “trunk” of the tree was a good start.
Start playing and placing your Rhinestones, and figuring out your pattern before gluing.
Once you have your pattern figured out, you can start gluing. This is where white craft glue works better than a hot glue gun. If something is a little off, it’s much easier to reposition it with the craft glue. Let it completely dry.
Once it’s dry, you can frame your masterpiece, or you can do like I did and go a little more modern (or lazy) and put it next to a frame for display. This is a pretty project for the holidays. Make sure top keep out of reach of little ones, pets and kids as the gems are a choking hazard.
This is a smaller version of a bejeweled Christmas tree, but a larger version next to the twinkling Christmas lights would be beautiful!
For more holiday inspiration, you can check out my book Creatively Christmas on Amazon,
Or see how to make faux sugar Thrift store Santa’s or snow globe ornaments or
