Book Page Wreath DIY (Part II)


book page wreath four colors

After making my first book page wreath, I made a second one while showing some friends how to do it.  If you’d like to try it, you can find my tutorial here .

It was so interesting to see how different the colors turned out simply by using a different book.

One thing led to another, and I made four just to demonstrate how the book you choose will influence the final product.

The first one I made is from a dictionary, purchased at the dollar store.  The paper is a newsprint kind of page.  You can see how it’s more grey in color than it is white.

newspring book wreath

The book was approximately 5 x 8 inches in size, so the wreath turned out a lot more full.  The pages were also very thin, so the rolls in the paper are softer.


The second book wreath I made came from a falling apart murder mystery I picked up at the thrift store.  It was more like 4 x 6 inches in size, and the pages were yellowed with age.  This also meant that they were more stiff.

yellowed book page wreath

The final product was smaller in size when I finished, due to the smaller pages.  It wasn’t as full, but was still pretty.  I liked how it took on more of a brown tone instead of a gray one.


Intrigued, I went back to the thrift store and found a small book, about 3 x 5 inches in size, but with crisp white pages and bold black print along with some small black and white illustrations on each page.  I was curious how “black and white” it would look.

book page wreath

This wreath was definitely the lightest in color, as well as the smallest in size.  It’s really fun to look at, though, because the pages I used were so interesting due to changes in font size and tiny illustrations on every page.


On the last two wreaths I made, I tore some pages into strips and glued them around the foam wreath so you wouldn’t see any Styrofoam in the finished product.


The last book I used was chosen for it’s creamy white pages and the red ink on the edge of the pages.  The red didn’t go all the way around the outer edges of the book, so I bought a good tomato red acrylic paint to match and painted the other two sides.  I was really generous with the paint because I wanted to be able to see the red.  Like my first project, this book was about 5 x 8 inches, so it turned out really full.

book page wreath

I love the red edges!


You could use so many other pages, as well!  What about an atlas?  I think that a blue colored steno notepad could also be really fun.   When we think about books, we tend to think of them all as being pretty much the same inside, as far as color goes.  Yet it is so interesting to see the subtleties in color changes when they’re used next to each other in a project like this.

The one in my family room enjoyed a red ribbon and a bird for the holidays.

bird on book wreath

I hung one on my laundry room door for fun, since it’s at the end of a hallway and I like to make it pleasant for myself to visit my laundry room (this increases the chances for clean clothes at our house).

book page wreath hanging on door

I like all four of these wreaths for different reasons, and in different places.  The question I have is, which one is your favorite?

book page wreaths

If you haven’t made one yet, I really hope you’ll try it.  And I’d love to hear your what kind of book you use, too.


Lest you think that it would be a waste if you decided you don’t like it, just give it to your 9 year old son and see what he does:

boy wearing book wreath


boy wearing book wreath

Just wanted to make you smile.  Have a great day!

Book Page Wreath DIY (Part I)

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!

Blue bowls… what a find!

All of a sudden, whenever I need a bowl I find myself reaching for one of these little blue ones.
And every time I put something in one,  I want to take a picture.
And several times I have.  Perhaps you’ve noticed these little beauties in recent posts.
I really like these bowls.
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Today was no different.  Not only are they the perfect size, I’m loving how food looks in them.
It’s a color thing.
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Do you want to hear something funny about me and hard boiled eggs?
Earlier this year I set out to come up with a Potato Salad that I love.  Well, we all know that potato salads need hard boiled eggs.  For years I’ve tried to get my hard boiled eggs to be perfect, without the ugly greenish-gray color in the yolk, without any cracks, and so forth, but perfection always eluded me.

Until this summer.  One day I put a bunch of eggs on the stove to cook, and then promptly forgot about setting my timer and went to do other things until suddenly I remembered the eggs.  I figured they must be done so I removed them from the heat and placed them in ice water.

They were the most perfect hard boiled eggs ever!  The funny thing is that this has happened to me every time I’ve cooked eggs since.  Now I’m at the point that I don’t know if I dare to actually pay attention to how long they’re cooking for because I’m just sure I’ll ruin them.  Today was no different.   And the eggs were perfect.

But I digress.  We were talking about my blue bowls.
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Let me just say here that I bought these bowls over a month ago, and have stored them stacked like this in my pantry since then.  Every time I look at them I have to smile because they’re so pretty!  And every time I’ve looked at them I want to take a picture.

So today I gave in and did it.  Some a pale blue and some are a deeper aqua color.  I like them together.
Here’s the best part of all:  I got them at the dollar store!  That’s right, Dollar Tree.
Like I said, I found them about a month ago and bought a nice, tall stack of them (remember dishes need to come in sets of at least ten at my house).  This morning I was there looking for something else and they had a few more.

I bought them all.  Okay, it was only five of them.  I couldn’t help it!  They were so cute!
And, I must say they’re a pretty amazing find for $1.
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Did I mention that I love the colors?  Wow, I’m such a sucker for blue.

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