Old Book Wreath

Old book wreaths are all over and I love them.  They are shaped with cones, roses, knots, curls and my personal favorite…shaggy.

Here’s the one I made.

Here’s how I made it.  First I found a book from my box.  The covers were already removed for my Farmhouse File Box.  The book is 8 inches by 5 1/2.

Sorry for the poor picture!

It’s a picture of a scrapbook bottle of antiquing stain in walnut being rubbed along the 5 1/2 edges.  This was applied heavy.  Let the pages dry a bit…unless like me, your hands are in desperate need of a manicure and you’re excited to get the project done.

I grabbed wire about the gauge of a wire hanger and made an 16 inch circle.  A wire hanger would work too.

Next I tore off a page and made a fan.  You know…fold one edge, then flip and fold, flip and fold.  The fans were folded along 8 inch edge.  I did this messy and not perfect.  Then using a paper punch I put a hole in the middle of the fan.  Sometimes I made the hole down about a half inch or an inch.  This made the wreath have depth with a bit of fan sticking out.

Then I strung the fan onto my wire. Easy Peasy!

Now do this 343 more times!  That’s how many pages my book was.

Towards the end you will have to squish the fans together. Notice the antiqued edges! Love that!

Now I just made a hook in both ends and looped them together to close the wreath.

For the uglies of this project, I used floral wire between the wreath wire and the cup hook in the wall to hang the old book wreath. The wreath is so lushes and thick it was the quickest way to hang it.

Here it is at an angle to show just how much it comes out from the wall.  I have it displayed with my two scrap wood trees.  I will post about them soon.

This project really is easy to make.  I made it in two hours while watching a movie {I didn’t even watch the folding and flipping!}

Best of all, it was freeeeeeee!

Let me know what you think in comments.

My old book disclaimer! I had reservations about using old books for crafts.  We have 3 boxes of books gathered over the years that were bought at yard sales and thrift shops stored in the garage.  Most were not in good shape when I bought them.  Many were green and blue for decorating a bookcase.  The more tattered and torn the better.  We’ve moved the books several times, but for the last 7 years they sit in storage.  I had to get rid of some due to mold…yuck.  But now that I’ve found some creative ways to reused them, I feel we can love them all over again in their new life.