Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Book Wreaths

The other day I went Visiting Teaching and noticed the cutest wreath on this girls door.  The lady I was with informed me that it was just made from a book that was painted and then the pages were rolled up and so forth.  I figured it was something I could figure out on my own.   So in case you are interested in making one of these, here is a tutorial from yours truly.

Supplies needed:

---a book (preferably at least 300 pages...depends on how thick/full you want the wreath to be)
---acrylic paint
---wreath (a foam one would work best but I just had a stick one I used)
---glue gun
---Elmer's glue
---ribbon

The first thing you need to do is get a book.  I didn't want to use any books I had in my house so I went to the dollar store (Dollar General to be exact) and bought this little beauty.

This book had about 450 pages to it and I didn't feel bad at all buying it knowing full well I was just going to rip it apart :)  I know you are all wanting to go pick this baby up and read it.  It looks so intriguing.


Next you will take a paint color of your choice and paint the edges of the book.  I didn't have any brushes so I just put paint on a paper towel and rubbed it on there.

I then proceeded to rip out the pages in the book.  You will need at least 200 so rip away ladies.  I only ripped pages with words on them.  This book had a ton of pages with hardly any words on them.  You need them to have words so they will show on your wreath.  Otherwise it will be just blank and it doesn't look as sharp.  Just trust me on this :)

This next step I learned through trial and error.  I tried just rolling the pages up (make sure to not crease it) and then hot gluing them straight onto the wreath.  I don't know if it had anything to do with my wreath not being foam but they wouldn't stay tight.  So I decided to glue all my pages as I rolled them.  I just took old fashioned Elmers Glue and put glue on one edge of the page and then started rolling.  Just remember to roll so the top of the roll is the painted edges.  There are millions of ways to roll these babies but this is how I chose to roll them.  I started folding in one direction then mid way through started rolling in the opposite direction.  Hopefully this collage will give you a better idea of what I am so terrible at trying to explain :)

This is how my pages looked after I rolled them.  Fancy huh...


Here is my little rolled pile.  Trust me this is just a small small fraction of what I had to roll. 


Once you get a good little pile started you can begin hot gluing them onto your wreath.  You just start by gluing them directly onto the wreath.  Once you get the whole bottom covered, flip the wreath over and put something somewhat heavy on top of it to flatten it just a little.   


For your next layer you will need to fold the bottom of your rolled pages like so....


Then with the first layer on the backside of the wreath, start gluing them around the wreath like so.  And I also overlapped them a little at this point.

I believe I did 3 layers of this.  I would periodically stop and look for spots that needed to be filled in and fill them in.  I wanted a nice, full wreath with no holes.  For the very last step you will fill the inside of the wreath with rolled pages.  No need to fold these rolls.  Just glue straight up from the inside, essentially matching the direction your other pages are going.  Once you get your desired fullness take a piece of ribbon and glue it onto the back of the wreath like so. 

And here is my finished product.  I did do an extra layer on the inside of my wreath where I didn't roll my pages but did more of wave type look to them.  They were harder to glue but I did this extra layer to just hide some of the imperfections I had on the inside of the wreath.  Overall I am pleased with my outcome.
Of course I would never dare hang this beauty outside since the weather here in Utah is so unpredictable.  Not only is my house located in the windiest part of Utah (at least it feels like it ), it rains and snows out of nowhere here so to keep this beauty safe I keep her tucked away on my front door, but on the inside.

And besides bringing beauty to my door it also partially blocks people from peeping into my house through my glass window on my door (not a fan of glass on doors....I can't hide from people when they knock :) 
Oh and my husband told me the other day that he didn't like this little creation I did.  He said, "It looks just like a rolled up newspaper."  Tell me how you really feel hun :)

36th Avenue

Thirty Hand Made Days">




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42 comments:

Moquelish said...

Nice job! I love how inexpensive and cute those are. Thanks for sharing it.

Steph said...

whatever kolby, i like it!!! way cute. you girls are way tooo much!! love ya

Melissa D. said...

I LOVE making new wreaths so I'll definitely have to try this one. It came out great!!

FYI on the glass doors- we bought black tint (got it from Lowe's) and just cut it to fit around the glass. No one can ever see in but we still get plenty of light through the doors!

tiffunny said...

Turned out cute. Why does it show up that Heidi posted this instead of tenille? Just curious if it will always do that or not.

c.w.frosting said...

Love the painted edge spin on the book wreath! Great job!

-caroline @ c.w.frosting

Unknown said...

I like the red on the edges! Gives it a nice accent. I did one of these out of a phone book so it would have pops of yellow. Thanks for linking up with DIY under $5!

Trevino said...

I can't wait to make one of these!

Angela said...

Hi!!! New follower:) I love the wreath...:)

Jules said...

I'm your neighbor on TT and Jello and had to stop by when I saw your creation! LOVE the red... the whole thing is really cool. Don't ya just love it when the hubby is less than thrilled? I hope you get a ton of comments to prove to him that you did a GREAT JOB! jules

Bethany @ A Fish Who Likes Flowers said...

This is beautiful!! You did such a good job.

I would love to do a book page wreath but I live in Oregon where is rains 95% of the time and of course I have nowhere indoors to hang it.

Marci Rasch said...

cute idea! :) I still dont think mine would work out that cute though!

Robin Ennis Willson said...

Wow! lots of work! you did a great job. Def caught my eye in the linky party :)

coupon chick said...

Love it! And wow I can't believe you would tear apart what could have been a very enlightening literary classic! LOL

Great tutorial and as far as the hubby...mine says the same thing...actually mine is way nicer since his famous words are..."you can tie a ribbon around a turd but at the end of the day it's still a turd"...

I know you're wondering how I ever got so lucky with such a supportive husband! Hmmm...maybe I should go get a lottery ticket! haha

Have a fabulous day!

shawn @ http://chicksdigcoupons.blogspot.com

oops found you by way of the monday hop! :)

Jill said...

Very nice wreath!
Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a great week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

Desiree @ The 36th AVENUE said...

Adore...

I am so making this... I'd love for you to share it at my link party. Really cute. Visiting from 30 Days Handmade.

Unknown said...

Visiting from 30 Handmade Days :)

Great idea for a wreath!

Emily said...

That is so gorgeous!

Antonella said...

I love these wreaths and am really going to have to try one!! So glad you linked to the Crafty Soiree... I've also linked up if you want to stop by...
Hugs, antonella :-)
My link: http://quilling.blogspot.com/2011/06/filigree-friday-free-fathers-day-badges.html

envy my find said...

I love this! Could we feature this on our blog. envymyfind.blogspot.com

We also have a cooking blog that we would like to share it on as well. let us know.

email us at envymyfind@gmail.com

thanks so much.. great job

Brandon said...

You were the #1 pick on Patches of Pink this week! Congratulations!!

http://www.patchesofpink.com/2011/06/thursday-favorites-home-decor-princess.html

staci said...

I just became a follower (I'm one of Heidi's old roommates). The wreath looks great, I may give it a try! I was confused when it said heidi posted this cuz I know she doesn't live in utah, but tiffany's comment cleared that up. :)

Shannon @FairfaceWashcloths said...

That is such a cute wreath! I love that the ends of the pages are red...gives it just the right touch. Very creative and oh so cute!
shannonsews.blogspot.com

anna said...

What a brilliant idea and a beautiful creation! Husbands, eh!

Unknown said...

Fantastic job :) You did an amazing job with the book wreath! You should link it to my Front Porch Party! Going on now until Friday. http://www.elephantstrunkllb.com/2011/06/summer-safari-front-porch-fun.html

Heidi said...

I LOVE your book wreath, especially the painted edges! {and your hubby sounds like mine! never afraid to tell me how he "really" feels about my creations, haha} visiting from the Summer Safari

annies home said...

love this idea I have also seen something like this using old sheet music thanks for showing us how to do int

Whit said...

I love it thank you so much for sharing. I have to make one of these. I found you through a linky party. Come and say hi I love visitors

A mommy's life...with a touch of YELLOW
tyandwhitneyulrich.blogspot.com

Chameleon Girls said...

We are going to have to give this a try! We make book purses and are always looking for ways to use the pages. Great Job!

Maureen said...

Saw this on Crafty Soiree...absolutely GORGEOUS!

Ginger@gingersnapcrafts.com said...

My husband's the same way. ;) I love how it turned out...thanks for the tutorial. :) Following you from Tip Junkie‘s link party. Would love to have you link this up to my {wow me} wednesday link party going on right now over on my blog. Hope to see you there. :)

Ginger
gingersnapcrafts.blogspot.com

Stacy@thealmostwholepackage said...

Saw you on wow me wednesday. This is so cute!

Ben, Ashley, and Nate said...

Just finished making this, and it was so easy and fun! It looks great in my bedroom, if I do say so myself:). Thanks for sharing this!

Inspired By June said...

I think your wreath came out very nice, Heidi! Considering what it's made of, it looks pretty cool! Thanks for taking the tine to create this tutorial and sharing it with us!

Athena said...

super cute!! i think i would do like 3 differant colors accross alll the pages on the edge of the book. looks like so much fun!!

Anonymous said...

Adding color to the edges is fun! I am working on a wreath myself made out of old books...I really like how yours turned out!

Natasha in Oz said...

My hubby would have probably said the same thing!

I love your wreath-it's gorgeous!

Best wishes,
Natasha.

Unknown said...

Love the idea! It would make a great teacher gift. Thanks for posting the wonderful directions.

Buffie
http://papercuts4u.blogspot.com/

Deanna said...

I think it looks great! Thanks for the tutorial so easy I will have to make one now!

Deanna@DeelitefulCreations

Jennifer said...

This turned out great!!

Thanks for linking up to Show & Share!!

Kim Sturge said...

I really like this idea. So adaptable to different seasons too.

Michael Ann said...

That is amazing! It took a lot of work but it sure turned out cute. Thanks for the idea!!

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