Book Page Wreath

I made another one of these babies for my sister while I was in Utah last. Since I live a gazillion miles away from all my super neat sisters, they haven't seen some of my stuff I've made recently in person. As they watched me make this wreath they were saying things like "You are still working on that?" and "That's alot bigger than I thought it was going to be..."

"yep." was my response to both of those comments

I love making these book page wreaths huge because it makes a statement for the room that it's placed in. It is noticed, and it's simple. Well, simple besides the fact that it takes a hundred years to make (okay, more like 5 or 6 hours....same thing) This particular wreath was made out of an old Miss Manners book, so of course I had to sit and read a few of the paragraphs as I was making the wreath! These big wreaths are such an easy way to dress up a huge blank wall without breaking the bank, I know everyone's gotta love that!

Round and Round the Garden

One tradition that we came up with while growing up took place during the fall clean up out in the yard. Every fall we had fall clean up days, compared to a single fall clean up day... really. It takes the whole fall season to get the yard ready to sleep for the winter. One of those days would consists of trimming the grape vines. Mom would clip and trim the vines off to where she needed them to be for growing back in the spring, and the kids were in charge of hauling away all the clippings. These were the cool clippings because they could be up to eight or ten feet long. We would find all sorts of things to do with these amazing vines, one example being a game of jump rope. Eventually jumping around wore off and I figured out how to make wreaths out of some of the vines. The last couple of years that I lived at home this was my tradition. I would make a wreath for my mom and hang it somewhere in her yard, on a fence or on a gate, to add some home made character to the yard for the winter season.

This year was no different. I was actually excited for our fall clean up day (yep, just one for us this year- smaller yard). To be outside, and smell all the autumn flavors, and hear the leaves being raked off the grass. I ended up cleaning out a garden that must have had some beautiful lilly's this summer, all the stiff stems were still standing tall. They were about waist high. I decided they were perfect for my tribute to the fall and winter seasons....among whatever else was in the "to be collected by the city" pile of clippings. The stems were a little stiff, I just bent and cracked them to get them to be where I wanted. I usually use long vines wrapped around each other to hold the wreath all together, but these little guys were kind of stubborn. I had to use twine to get it to stay! Oh well. So, here you have it, my winter wreath. It's decorating the shed this year.

Such a Good Book

This paper wreath was so much fun to make! It did take a bit of time, maybe three hours, I think because I was trying to figure out how to manipulate the paper like I wanted it. Believe it or not, ripping out the pages from the book took just as much time as rolling the papers! Now that I've had some practice I think I can make one in less time. I went to the Goodwill nearby and found a big fat old book for fifteen cents, so this craft was definitely a good deal!

 This is how I rolled the papers

I love how it's so big and ruffled looking. I got my idea from looking at some craft blogs, here are some other ideas for more really cute paper wreaths. I think I'll make some more in the future... maybe when I have more walls to hang wreaths on!