Changing up Glass Christmas Ornaments

Glass Beads, Fancy ornament Hooks and Rhinestones added to existing Glass Christmas Ornaments will change up ornaments you already own with minimal expense.

PROJECT REQUIRES:

1. 1-pr needle-nosed pliers (from your toolbox)
   
2. 1 doz beaded or other decorative ornament hooks ($2-$4 doz)
   
3. 1 doz glass ornaments 2"-4" (from your storage)
   
4. 144 SS 16 AB coated flat backed rhinestones <$5
   
5. 144 SS gold flat backed rhinestones <$5
   
6. 16-24MM Clear or colored flat back round, square or octagonal glass beads with holes on both ends (top and bottom) 1 glass bead garland has 39 1" 16MM glass beads.
   

I usually check at Ebay, Etsy and other craft sites for Christmas holiday decorating ideas and found a couple new ones this year. One was to decorate ornaments with rhinestones. I use rhinestones on the silk Christmas tree skirts I make with quilted silk - never thought to add them to my glass ornaments. Fixed that this year. :-) I used AB coated and gold SS16 sized rhinestones.  I needed more gold glass ornaments, bought them used fairly cheap at E-bay and re-painted with Rustoleum metallic gold spray paint.

I've been contemplating what to do with the huge 24MM glass beads squirreled away from a past holiday season.  Not being a good judge of size - particularly when viewing something on the internet - I discovered they are too large and too heavy to use as a garland on my Christmas trees. So, they've been waiting for an ingenious project.

Found one! I attached one end of the large bead to a decorative metal beaded ornament hook and the other end to a glass ornament securing them both with needle nosed pliers so that they cannot separate or fall. I used brass beaded metal ornament hooks to blend with my holiday decor-gold is my accent color. Silver metal beaded Christmas ornament hooks are available at I Love Christmas.com.

If you plan to try this project to spruce up your existing ornaments, make sure the glass bead is proportional to the size of your ornaments. If the bead is too small or too large, it will detract from the look you are trying to achieve. These 2" glass ornaments were originally green. I spray painted them with Rustoleum Universal All Surface Turquoise Metallic Spray paint. At the time I purchased, this color could only be found online at Menards Hardware store in Ohio. They will special order and ship to you but only a carton of 6. if you love dark turquoise/light teal you will love this color. I used it to repaint my live Christmas tree stand. Home Depot can special order (also only a carton) but, they will not ship or deliver; it has to be picked up at the store.  I thinks spray paint is lighter or finer than their other metallic sprays. The coverage is excellent but be warned, there is considerable over spray. 

Rhinestone images copyright Ebay seller adp1018 . Thanks for visiting I Love Christmas.com holiday decorating blog. Use our Contact Form to request permission to reprint or quote from this article. For more Christmas decorating ideas visit my Christmas blog: https://www.i-love-christmas.com/Christmas-Decorating-Ideas . Get beautiful, handmade glass ornaments, garlands, metal ornament trees, ornament hooks, tabletop Christmas trees, photo ornaments and other holiday decorations at I Love Christmas! https://www.i-love-christmas.com . Note that I assume no liability for the use or misuse of these instructions or those provided by the product manufacturers.