Craft Ideas for using Old Vintage Jewelry Pieces

Craft Lots, Junk Jewelry Lots, Pounds and Pounds of broken jewelry. I see this type of thing offered on ebay all the time. These lots are often full of broken jewelry, or worn jewelry of bits and pieces of old jewelry. Do you ever wonder what people do with the large lots of jewelry sold on eBay and other auction sites which are titled as craft jewelry? So did I so I started looking around the net to see what other people do with odd ball jewelry that isn't saleable in its own right.

Some people buy jewelry lots like this simply to harvest old vintage findings and rhinestones. Since vintage jewelry is old and clasps and stones are no longer available for sale, it can be a daunting task to get just the right stone or clasp to repair a piece that is otherwise sound.

But the use of craft lots doesn't stop there. There are so many creative uses of jewelry that arty people have come up with. About.com has an interesting article about various uses of jewelry for crafts.

Here are some other ideas. Perhaps they will spark your creative juices. If you have other ideas, I'd love to hear about them in the comments section.

• Harvest charms and pendants from old jewelry to make new one of a kind charm bracelets
• Take a plain picture frame and add fronts of vintage earrings or pins around the edge to make a sparkly jazzed up picture frame.
• All an old style brooch to the front of a vintage clutch for a spectacular new look
• Arrange old pieces of glitzy rhinestone jewelry in a candy dish for an interesting table accent
• Sparkly strands of vintage beads draped around a pottery piece can add an eye catching look for a center piece.
• Turn a boring lamp shade into a spectacular one with a few vintage baubles
• Use old vintage jewelry to jazz up a tablescape for your next party.
• Decorate the outside of a plain jewelry box with vintage baubles.
• Give your kids a box of old jewelry pieces and let them go wild. Great for kids parties
• Add rhinestone jewelry pieces to a large oval egg shape for a one of a kind Easter gift
• Hang pieces from vintage jewelry in a broken wind chime for a unique glitzy outdoor accent
• Use bits of vintage jewelry to decorate scrap book pages
• Use old pices of rhinestone and glass jewelry to make one of a kind Christmas mosaic tree to decorate for the holiday.

An example of the Christmas tree idea is shown in this YouTube video that I recently found when looking for craft idea.

I get loads of this sort of jewelry in the estate collections that I buy. I just stick it in a box in the corner of my sorting room and when it's full, I put it on eBay. Be sure to check out my store Carolina Collections Vintage Jewelry. I often have this type of craft collection for sale.