Book Page Wreath Tutorial

Hello friends! 

Can I ask you something? 

Do you ever walk through your house, stop dead in your tracks and see something that's been bugging you, (in my case the area over my mantel) and suddenly know EXCATLY what you need to do about it? 

I mean something that you've been trying to figure out like For-eva?! --But you want it to be just right, and set you back an arm and a leg?!

Well, a few weeks ago, I was standing at my kitchen sink, and my little guy was sitting quietly in his chair reading a book. (Quiet is non-existent rare with MY 6 year old boy...there are usually siren noises, or explosions being imitated, or legos being tossed about while he builds some new creation,  all while carrying on an animated conversation with himself, in his own little world.)  Sorry. Back to my point, I was standing at my sink, and I turned to face the family room, and my sweet boy, and I looked up and saw the space above the mantel that I had been wanting to change. 

Suddenly, as if the skies had parted, as if being hit by a lightning bolt, I had an idea! 

 I needed to make a book page wreath to hang over my mantel!! 

Halle-lu-jah!!! Halle-lu-jah!!!

(That's the angels singing) :-)

So, I went to gather my supplies, and while I cut my circle out of

 cardboard, and started rolling paper cones from the pages I pulled out of an old dictionary, I was singing along with Alicia Keys to the song in my head...This Girl is on Fi-i-i-i-r-e!

...And I was! I think I nearly burned my finger prints OFF with the hot glue! But what fun it was to create something spontaneously!

If you want to make one, here's what you will need...

A glue gun, glue sticks, and old book, cardboard or foam core, some ribbon or twine to make the hanging loop, and something cool to make the center medallion. For me it was a combination of an old clock face, scrap paper, and cork contact paper.

First you cut a circle out of your cardboard or foam core.

 Then, just roll some cones out of your pages in whatever way looks good to you. I did a longer set by rolling the pages length wise, and then a shorter set by rolling them sideways. 

It's kind of hard to explain, and I didn't take pics, but I would tell you just play with it, and see what you like. There are no rules. 

This girl is on f-i-i-i-r-r-e!!!

OUCH!

Lots of hot glue incidents...

 I bought a few of these old clock faces at my friend's antique store.

 So I just kept making rows, and when it started to get poof-y, I kind of smoothed them down by almost creasing them, but not too much!

Just keep gluing around until you achieve the fullness you want. I believe that I did 3 rows. 

Then you make something for the center. I cut out a circle on cork contact paper, then a smaller one out of extra scrapbook paper, then I got a wild hair and sprayed it with chalkboard spray paint, then I hot glued the old clock face on top, glued all layers together, and used a piece of chalk to make some marks around the clock.

 To hang it, make a small loop with some ribbon, and hot glue it onto the back of your cardboard. I also cut out a small circle from scrap paper, and glued that on top of the ends of the ribbon to secure it further, leaving only the loop portion exposed on the cardboard.

It only took me an hour from start to finish, and I had everything I needed for it already! 

I love it when that happens! 

I also made one for the guest room...

See it over the lamp? I did a little fun medallion with 4 different types of scrapbook paper, and a circle of cork contact paper for the center of this one. Sorry, I can't seem to find the close up I shot of it! 

Darn it!

So that's the story of how a quiet moment, a bolt of lightning, and some angels singing, resulted in this wreath, in one hour. While singing with Alicia to This Girl Is On Fire!

Should you choose to try it, 

Happy wreath making to you!! 

Have a fantastic weekend!!

xo-Lisa

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