diy: book wreath

i found this book wreath idea on a great crafting blog called living with lindsay. i LOVE the way hers came out and set out to make a book wreath of my own. [side note: funnily enough, lindsay is also in austin...note to self: get in touch with lindsay.]

we have a huge empty space on the living room wall above the tv. i thought a wreath or two or three would be perfect there.


i'm going to attempt to recap the step-by-step process to creating your own book wreath but my honest advice? go over to living with lindsay for her how-to. she's definitely more of a pro crafter than i am...obviously...and she has a video tutorial which was super helpful...but here is my lame attempt at it...

step 1: gather your supplies: a small wreath ring (10" i think), a paperback book you don't care about (i used confessions of a shopaholic = appropriate), craft paint in the color of your choosing (i used yellow), hot glue gun and plenty of glue sticks, straight pins and ribbon. i got all of them at hobby lobby aside from the stellar piece of literature, which came from my bookshelf.


step 2: apply the craft paint around the edges of the book using a paper towel. let dry, then separate the pages and remove the binding (i just ripped but chunks out very carefully so as not to rip the pages and cut off the binding glue).


step 3: roll the pages one at a time however you like (like a fan, in cigar rolls, figure eights) and use hot glue to adhere the page to the wreath base. be sure not to crease the paper and only glue down the edge that came out of the book binding. work your way from the center of the wreath to the outside and the inside, filling in holes as you go.





step 4: cut a piece of ribbon as short or as long as you'd like, depending on whether or not you want the ribbon to be visible. adhere with a few straight pins and some hot glue here and there. oops...forgot pictures of this step...

step 5: this is an extra step that lindsay didn't suggest...since we rent our apartment and refuse to paint walls, we need to add color in any way we can. so i adhered some cool paper to the back of the wreath to add a little more color and texture to the center circle. i picked up some scrapbooking paper at hobby lobby for a few bucks, traced the wreath circle and cut out the perfect shape then hot glued it to the back of the wreath. voila, a little punch of color.




so here's the finished product. i've finished two of them and even though i plan to hang up three (i just started on my third) i got too impatient and wanted to blog about them NOW so hung up the two i've completed....and i think they look like nipples hanging above the tv...or a smiley face. gotta get that third one finished asap :)