Last week I saw a post on The Inspired Room about a wreath made from the pages of a book.
I popped over to Living With Lindsay and read her tutorial, then watched her video on how to make one. She shows you how to roll the paper and how to avoid burning your fingers to death, which is a good tip. Now, I had a lot to do, but all of a sudden the only urgent thing in my life was to get to the nearest dollar store and make one of my own. As in, tonight, before I go to bed.
Lindsay was right. It really costs only $2.00. Now that’s my kind of project!
Lindsay’s video and tutorial are far better than what follows, but for what it’s worth here’s how I did it.
At my dollar store they only had 2 kinds of books: dictionaries and Bibles. The idea of tearing up a Bible didn’t sit well with me, so a dictionary was what I came home with, along with a foam wreath.
I didn’t have any craft paint that wasn’t all dried up, so I used a dark brown ink pad to rub the edges of the pages. After I’d finished, though, I wished I’d had paint. I think it would have been a little more noticeable.
I also found that tearing pages out of the book didn’t work too well. My binding was too good, I guess. I ended up using an exacto knife to cut my pages out of the book. It was 11:30 pm when I finally started this project. I plugged in my glue gun, took a deep breath and started.
Soon I’d gone all the way around.
I turned the wreath over (again, check out Lindsay’s blog) and kept going. After a while, I had a wreath! Hooray!
I pinned a piece of ribbon to the back and rushed to the wall to hang it up. It is so light that I just used a thumb tack to pin the ribbon to the wall.
What do you think? I like it!
I hung it in my family room, between two pieces of furniture. I’ve been planning to hang something circular there for a long time. Well, here it is, I guess. (And yes, I know there’s one piece on the top that is sticking out too far. Beginner’s lesson learned: stick that paper down in deep more quickly or it dries where it paused.) That’s okay. I’m not into perfect. (I might be lying here, just a little, because I’m really a perfectionist, but I’m overcoming it. Having 8 kids sort of forces me to do that.)
I realized a few things after doing this. Mine is more gray. That’s because the dictionary I used had newsprint pages.
It got me wondering: what about a book with gilded pages? Or a vintage book with red edges to the pages? or what about an old book with yellowed pages? Or a book with crisp white pages? Changing the kind of book you use could change the whole look! Kind of fun. I think I’m going to make another one after I go scan the thrift store for old books.
Editorial note: To see part II, which shows how the wreath looks using 4 different books, click here .
Meanwhile, I decided to try an experiment with my wreath:
I got a long piece of orange ribbon and very loosely tied it in a knot around it.
And that’s how it stayed. You want one of these, I promise. They’re fast, cheap, simple and fun. Try it!
