Upcycled Eye Glasses Christmas Tree Ornaments

Claire Armstrong
by Claire Armstrong
4 Materials
$2
30 Minutes
Easy

The other day whilst having a clear out I came across a load of old eye glasses in a drawer. Instead of throwing them out I decided to upcycle them with some vintage images. I'd already used the images with some dictionary baubles I made for the tree (see here) and I wanted to continue the theme.

If you don't happen to have some old eye glasses at home you can pick them up very cheaply from junk and charity shops.

The first thing I did was cut off the arms and snap the glasses in half. I simply used a pair of wire cutters to do this.


I also used beads and jewelry wire for this craft. To save money I used the beads from old bracelets and necklaces.

Using clear decal paper I printed out some vintage images to fit on the front of the lenses. I have a load of vintage images on my blog that you can download for free (see the link at the end).

Cut out the image you want from the decal paper.

Next, peal away the backing and stick the clear decal to the front of the lens.

Next, thread some beads in colours to match the vintage images onto jewelry wire. Then simple add these beads to the lens to complete this Christmas ornament.

These ornaments look really good hanging from the Christmas tree, especially when the Christmas tree lights shine through the lens. I think they would look really good to use family photos instead of vintage images.


I have a lot of ready sized vintage images on the post I made for an upcycled dictionary advent calendar. They are free to download and would be perfect for this craft.


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Claire Armstrong
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  • Ilene Ilene on Dec 06, 2020

    Love the look. This look with the glasses will be the perfect accent for my current, non Holiday related, project. In the pre-covid days, interesting and sometimes vintage glasses were readily availabe at thrift stores. I should have bought when I had the chance. Do you know if you can run decal paper through an HP Envy 5660 printer? Thank you, Happy Holidays! Ilene

  • Leslie Leslie on Dec 08, 2020

    Instead of making yet more ornaments, why not donate them to LensCrafters or another org that will recycle them to the needy here in the U.S. or overseas where the need is great?

  • Dawn Dawn on Jan 03, 2022

    This is a great idea to use old broken glasses. In addition to Christmas ornaments, they would be beautiful for sun catchers hanging in a window or a sunny, protected porch!

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  • Nan Nan on Nov 30, 2021

    We used to make ornaments from the old lenses but removed the frame entirely...and used only the lenses....I think they look more finished without the broken frames hanging off them.

    • Claire Armstrong Claire Armstrong on Nov 30, 2021

      Thank you for the suggestion, I kept the frame as that enabled me to hang the ornaments with a thread tied to the frame. I tried to drill a hole through the glass but it was too tough!. But if you can drill through the lens then that is an option.

  • Char Char on Dec 03, 2021

    Well how cute and creative. I don't have any old glasses but Dollar Tree sells them. Gotta make another trip now! Lol

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