Getting crafty

I've been seeing beautiful wreaths made out of pages from books for awhile now.  I've always thought they were beautiful but couldn't bring myself to spend around $40 (usually more, especially with shipping involved) for something that I was sure I could replicate myself.  After a lot of searching on Google for just the right tutorial, I found this one over at Blue Cricket Design.  I made a few tweaks, as noted below, but I'm in love with the end result so much!

 I only had to pick up the 7-inch styrofoam circle and straight pins.  Some people prefer to use tacky/craft glue to attach the book pages, but I went with pins since I didn't want Chloe trying to eat the glue.  It's also a lot easier to correct any mistakes with pins!

 First I ripped the cover off the book and pulled about 300 pages apart.  Then, after tying on the ribbon, I would poke a pencil into the center of the page being used and twist it around.  You can pretty much do whatever you darn well please when it comes to the folding and placement of the pages.  I did some tight folds and placed the pages very close together so that it appeared fuller, placing the pin towards the tip of the folded page.  It's also best to start on the outside edge!

 Completed outer edge.  Once that's done, do it again!  I did three circles to get a very full look.

 Ta da!  The finished product!  I haven't settled on it's future home, but I'm leaning towards my bedroom or the kitchen, in place of my grandfather's painting.

The end result was a really cool wreath that's a little over a foot wide.  I really love this.  There are so many things you can do with this project too, such as stamping the book edges to make the ends darker, spray painting, adding colored paper.....It's extremely easy to make this your own.  One final tip - use a book with thin pages.  In my researching I found that many people preferred paper that was tissue-like, such as those old college textbooks with paper so thin you could see through to the next page.  I used an old book from high school.  I get the feeling that my AP European History would be shocked to learn that someone still had that book and also put it to some sort of use!  I've had a couple people ask me to make one of these wreaths for them, but I'm first going to do one for my grandma out in Cape Cod.  I might just use a different book though....

Speaking of books, if you want a really great (albeit long) read, get yourself a copy of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  I have all seven of the books in the Outlander series and am only on the very first one, aptly titled Outlander, but I'm in love with it.  It's a wonderful cross between historical fiction, romance, and time travel.  Don't let the absurdly long length of each book keep you from at least checking it out.  The shortest book is just under 1000 pages.  No biggie, right?