How To Make Repurposed Eyeglasses Ornaments For Christmas
Turn old glasses into unique eyeglasses ornaments with vintage images, beads, and wire. A fun upcycled Christmas craft full of nostalgic charm and holiday creativity!
I've already used some of the fantastic vintage images on this site to make some upcycled dictionary Christmas baubles for my tree. When I came across a pile of old spectacles, I thought it would be fun to repurpose them into eyeglass ornaments for the tree.
Every year, I get the Christmas decorations out of the loft ready to hang on the tree. I would say that over 70% of my Christmas ornaments are handmade. These handcrafted ornaments are my favourite and often bring back wonderful memories.
By adding some of my favourite vintage images from the site onto these eyeglasses ornaments, I have made them special and memorable. You could add pictures of your own or any of those on this site.
I think photos would be great to use, making these eyeglasses ornaments even more personal. These would make a great gift, too.
If you don't happen to have any old eyeglasses, they are often available very cheaply from junk and charity stores.
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What You Need
- Old eyeglasses - If you don't have any, charity shops are a good place to find them really cheaply.
- Wire cutters
- Clear decal printable paper
- Jewelry wire
- Beads in festive colours of red, green and white. Old necklaces are an affordable way to find old beads.
How To Make Eyeglasses Ornaments
Step 1: Using a pair of wire cutters, take apart the eyeglasses. You want just one lens for each eyeglasses. So, you will be able to make two eyeglasses ornaments from one pair of spectacles.
Step 2: Measure the size of the eyeglasses lens. Then select the vintage images you want to use for the ornaments and reduce them in size so that they will fit onto the lens. I selected a few of the pictures from Pictureboxblue that were festive or in festive colours.
Once you are happy with the choice of images, print them onto the decal paper according to the instructions. I suggest you print a test page on normal paper first to check your sizes before printing onto the decal paper.
The decal paper comes in A4 sheets, so that you can print more than one image on the sheet.
I also have a collection of vintage Christmas flower drawings on the site that would also look great with these ornaments.
I resized a lot of vintage images for the upcycled dictionary advent calendar I made. These images would work really well with this craft, and you can download them for free from the post.
Step 3: Cut out the decal from the printed sheet. Then carefully peel away the backing and stick the clear sticker to the front of the eyeglass lens.
Step 4: Using the jewellery wire, thread the beads onto the wire, and then add beads to the bottom and top of the eyeglasses ornaments.
I used beads in colours to match the vintage picture stuck to the eyeglasses ornaments. It's the beads in Christmas colours that make these ornaments look festive.
You can find this vintage parrot image here, along with many more.
The gorgeous vintage rose print used for this ornament can be found here.
These upcycled glasses ornaments look even better when hanging on the Christmas tree and when placed in front of a light. The Christmas tree lights glow through the lens and illuminate the vintage images.
Other Ornament Ideas
Another way to make upcycled ornaments with vintage images is to use old jam jar lids.
If you are looking for more ideas for homemade Christmas ornaments, there are many tutorials on my other site, Pillarboxblue, including these other upcycled Christmas ornament ideas. Or subscribe to allfreechristmascrafts for more ideas.
For more vintage image upcycled Christmas ornaments, check out these tuna can butterfly Christmas ornaments.
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I have glasses that aren't good enough to donate but I have held onto because it feels wrong to tradh them. I'm trying to find someone who could repurpose them
You should try and make the keepsake ornament it is very easy.
Absolutely adorable, and so clever!
Thank you so much, they are so easy to make.
Very pretty, however Maybe next time you will donate the eyeglasses to the Lions Club or Walmart’s old eyewear drop off for those that can’t afford glasses. Just a thought for you and
others.
Merry Christmas!
Thank you, Karen thanks for the suggestions. If the glasses are in good condition then donate them but others can be upcycled. You can also buy glasses from the dollar store.
I am thinking a lot the same as JUDI KANIEWSKI. My husband also passed away & I have a lot of old glasses that I have been considering donating to the Lions Club to provide for those who need glasses. I see so many in piles at second hand stores that seem to just pile up. I have seen a few people looking for glasses that work, but it seems so often to be a hopeless effort. Especially. when people need a specific prescription & different for each eye. This would be a wonderful gift for each of my children who are still acutely feeling the loss of their Dad! So I may have found just the right idea for them. Thank you so much!
That sounds like a lovely idea, I'm sure your children will love them as a meaningful keepsake.
@Carey M., I have 3 pairs of glasses that belonged to my late fiance. I'm going to use his Navy picture, and red/white/blue beads, to make one of these for each of his 5 daughters, and one for myself. If I use r/w/b beads, they can hang them year-round.
Have fun making them, the red, white and blue beads sounds like a good idea.
I forgot to say that I use the whole pair of glasses and glue the family photos onto the glass. God bless.
Thank you, that sounds like a good idea too.
Very pretty. I have made them with family photos on the glass. Nice to just sit on a desk or dresser, etc. Of course you can make them into an ornament or a keychain also.
Thank you, they sound love,y.
OMG love this unique idea for everlasting memories!
also if you need to find them...any dollar store has them!
thank you for the idea!
Thank you and thanks for the dollar store tip.
This is such a clever idea! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!
Thank you, they do look good on the tree.
Love your idea of the glasses ornaments. My husband passed away recently and left behind many old glasses. What a wonderful memory ornament this would make for my tree.
That sounds like a lovely idea. Thank you.
This is such a clever idea!!! I will be featuring it at our Party in Your PJs link party tomorrow night. Thanks for being such an awesome, clever person!!
Aww, thank you that is very kind of you. I look forward to seeing it.
Oh what a fun way to repurpose old glasses! They turned out so pretty!
Thank you Linda, they look even better when they catch the light.
Beautiful idea, have never seen somthing like this before but I have to look out for old glasses now:-)
Thank you, you should be able to find some really cheaply.
My goodness! This is a fabulous idea for effective ornaments!!
Thank you for sharing with us!
I now regret throwing away our old glasses.....
Thank you, I love that you can choose any picture and repurpose an old necklace.
I love the originality of this idea! These ornaments are fabulous! Pinning!
Michelle
http://mybijoulifeonline.com/~bijoube2
Thank you so much Michelle and thanks for the share.
Oh my word, what a wonderful idea for repurposing old glasses. The ornaments are absolutely beautiful! My thoughts immediately go to this being such a wonderful memory keepsake ornament idea using a loved one's old glasses. Pinned
Thank you, yes they would make a lovely keepsake ornament. Most of my ornaments are handmade and keepsake, it's so lovely putting them up every year and bringing back those memories.