Book Page Wreath

I love books! My basement is filled with bookshelves overflowing with books. Every day that I'm alive I read. Some days it's only a few words, others its thousands of words. Books are a passion of mine.

Recently, I was asked by my sister to enter a craft fair with her. There's a few of us girls in the family, so we thought it would be fun to share the cost of a table all together. We each are bringing unique crafts to the fair. I wanted to come up with something easy, but something that is also beautiful and inexpensive to make. A lot of my crafts take time and money. Two things I don't have an abundance of right now.

These book page wreaths were the perfect solution to my dilemma. They are not very time consuming, and they are very inexpensive to make. Each one cost me about $2 or $3 to make. While someone could easily duplicate this craft on their own, some don't have the time and they are willing to pay to take a completed wreath home with them. If I don't sell them all... I have lots of Christmas gifts already made for my friends, teachers, and family. It's a winning situation no matter what!

To start out, you need an old book. I'm a little picky about this part. I want a book that has meaning. I don't want some random story hanging on my wall, so probably other people feel the same way. I have a box of old books that are duplicates of ones I already own. I LOVE to give away books.  I simply chose a few books from my book box. I found a couple of inspirational books to devour. I started by cutting off the spine of the book. I used a straight edge and an X-Acto knife.

The somewhat tedious part is rolling pages. And rolling pages. And rolling more pages of the book.

I have two different sizes that I roll. I make pages for the outer edge of the wreath, and I make another size for the inside of the wreath.

The pages for the outer edge, I roll all the way from the bottom of the page.  I want as big of a cone as possible. These ones I put a small piece of tape to hold them shut. You could use a glue stick so the tape is not visible, or use a hot glue gun. Since I double layer the cones, I don't worry much about the tape showing.

The pages for the inside of the wreath, I roll starting about two-thirds of the way down the page. I continuing to tuck and roll a tight small cone until there is nothing left of the page to roll.

These ones I staple about 1 inch from the bottom of the cone. I make sure the longest part of the cone is lying flat on its backside.

The fun part is when all your pages are rolled, and fastened. Assembling the wreath is where the creativity kicks in! I think this is a hard project to mess up! Book pages always look beautiful to me!

I cut a square of foam poster board to adhere my cones to. You could cut this in a wreath shape, but I prefer to keep mine a square. I also draw an outer circle on my poster board to use as a guide. I then trace a smaller middle circle.

Before I glue any cones on, I add a binder clip to the top of the board. This wreath is very light weight, and this is what I use to hang it up. It works perfectly! You can leave the top of the clip facing up, or you could have it face down to make it easier to glue the cones on. Just be sure the one closest to the wall is in the upright position.

You're ready to glue the cones on now! I use the circles I drew earlier as a guide. I start with the longer cones I've made for the outside edge of the wreath. I glue four cones on to start with. This helps to know exactly how straight I need to glue each cone on. I don't like when the angle gets off. I want it to look circular. Although I have made a couple without measuring and they turn out okay too!

The pages that get glued on over the top of the binder clip, I glue not only to the board, I also put a little glue in between them each so they hide the black binder clip.  I don't want that to be visible at all.

Now I fill in the rest of the circle with cones, making sure to put the tallest side of each cone on the backside. I want to be able to see the cone shape well. 

You could call your wreath complete, and add a decoration to the middle. Simple is beautiful too!

I want to go on and add another layer of cones to the wreath.  I think it gives a little bit more dimension which I really like.

This layer I make with my smaller cones that I stapled. I first draw another small circle as a guide. I glue the stapled cones around the middle again. The staple helps the cone to angle out a little, so that it doesn't lay completely flat.

Once all your cones are glued on, you can add a centerpiece for the finishing touch. With Christmas just around the corner, I thought some Christmas ornaments would be perfect for the center of these wreaths. And if they don't sell at the craft fair, I have already made Christmas gifts ready to go!

I found all my ornament centerpieces at Dollar Tree. This makes it the perfect extra special touch that sets each wreath apart from the others. No two wreaths can be identical. Each has hand folded papers. I also bought some potpourri from the dollar store to add underneath a few of my ornaments. This gives the wreath a nice fresh Christmas scent too!

I love how each one came out. All of them are different, but very pretty!

This one I made a little differently. Instead of using a square poster board, I used a rectangle shape. I also wasn't as careful about the size of cones, and the placement of them. I wanted a messier look to it. I think it came out very nicely. I especially love the little cardinal that sits up on top.

I made a mini one too!

It's so hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner!

Give Thanks to The Lord

I love this time of year! One of my favorite things to do is to think about all the blessings God has poured into my life. I write them down each day so I can remember God's goodness. 

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

My cup overflows with blessings. I am rich with all the things that truly matter.

Enjoy this new coloring page drawn by my daughter! She doodled this on a birthday card for me to give to a very special little girl.

A Harvest of Blessings

Fall is upon us, and with that I've got a brand new coloring page to share with you.

I love this verse in Galatians 6:9, "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up."

Life can be hard, but we must persevere and push through. We cannot quit doing good just because the going gets tough, or we don't feel like it. God rewards us for our obedience to Him!

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

Enjoy!

God Works for Our Good

I've got a brand new coloring page to share with you. This one features the Bible verse from Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." 

What a beautiful reminder of God's love. It knows no boundaries or limitations. God has good things in store for those who love Him and follow the plan He laid out. He know us better than we could ever hope to know ourselves. There is great peace in that fact!

You can feel free to use the coloring page for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

Enjoy!

Nothing is Impossible with God

I have a brand new coloring page to share with you today. I love the flower design my daughter put together for this coloring sheet.

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

Enjoy!

Egg Carton Wreath

Several years ago, I made an egg carton wreath for my mother. We were on a budget, and I wanted something extra special for my mom on Mother's Day. The wreath took about 8 hours for me to make, but literally cost pennies to put together. It's made from recycled egg cartons. I did this craft with a friend, which might have attributed to the longer craft time. We had little kids under foot, and we talked a bit as we worked!

I often buy eggs from different places, so I have a variety of styles to choose from. You might think egg cartons are all the same, but they are not. And this wreath can be made best from several different styles. You can have different shaped flowers depending on the piece of the carton you use.

The hardest part is the cutting! I still haven't figured out scissors that will easily cut through egg cartons, and I own a pair of Cutco scissors which are supposed to be strong enough to cut a penny. Scissors just rub your knuckles the wrong way when you cut up egg cartons. I don't think there is a pain free way to do. But it's all worth it! 

After the flowers are painted, and glued on the cardboard ring, you are left with a wreath that makes you smile. Every time I see this wreath hanging in my mother's kitchen, it makes me happy.  It also makes me remember the act of love which went into the making. I never could bring myself to duplicate the wreath for my own house. The time spent on cutting the different flowers scared me away from trying again.

Without having to be super creative on the cutting, you can always make each flower different in the painting. Be creative with the centers! Each flower is unique!

The only part of the wreath that isn't made from the egg carton, is the cardboard ring I painted for the back. You can make it as big, or as little as you would like. I didn't even add any kind of hook to the back of the wreath. A simple brad will hold the lightweight wreath on the wall.

Remember that act of love I never wanted to duplicate for myself? 

I didn't have to! For my birthday this year, my mom surprised me with my own egg carton wreath in my favorite colors. Now I can smile every time I see it on my wall, and I can remember my mom loves me enough to spend hours making her fingers sore.

I loved how instead of coloring the middle of these yellow flowers, my mom glued a brown pom-pom into the center! It adds a little depth to the flowers!

If you want to use it as a craft for your kids, let them paint the flowers as you cut them! They will love putting their own special touch on it!

Nestled in the flowers on my wreath, you will find a sweet little bird.

Shadow Puppet Theater

My favorite summer activity we do each year is our Shadow Puppet Theater Performance. We invite our family over to watch an original show written and performed by my kids. We've been doing this for 7 YEARS! 

It's very simple to make your own Shadow Puppet Theater! I bought a sheet for a couple dollars at Goodwill. All they had there at the time was a peach color. I would have preferred white; however the pale pastel color peach works just fine too. You can still see through it perfectly when you shine a light behind it.  

I made sure to sew a small pocket, with each end open, at the top of the sheet so we could slip a PVC pipe through it to hang. We now own a set of Fort Magic which works GREAT to build our theater on. We've been using our Fort Magic set for several years. 

To get the theater look, I used some painters tape around the edges of our sheet, and painted it with house paint I had on hand. I made sure to do several coats so you can't see through it when the light shines behind.

Through the years our transparency puppet collection has grown. Each year we do a different performance, and typically will chose a new character to make. Sometimes I have printed the characters on transparencies, but most of the time I have printed a coloring picture of the character out, and then I transfer it to the transparency by tracing over it with a permanent marker. 

I've tried using super glue to attach the transparencies to small dowel rods, but they often fall apart and break off during the show. Now I simply use a couple pieces of clear tape to get them to stick. If it's good tape, you won't even be able to see it!

We always make a day of summer fun with our theater performance. We write the story ourselves, make the characters, we practice repeatedly until it's perfect. And we invite family to watch the show in the evening. We also like to provide some yummy snacks for everyone. The boys will often take drink orders before the show, and will bring a treat to everyone during the intermission. The kids love this part of serving!

This night is always a favorite for all. It's so fun to watch the kids act out the show through shadow puppets and I love the different voices they do for each character. They always make me laugh. I enjoy it just as much as a night out at an expensive theater.

To make things funny, this year we decided to do our play based on the game Mash. We wanted our main character to be my husband since he wouldn't get to participate in the planning. The kids thought he would make a great main character. All of us chose one suggestion for each category of the Mash game. If our suggestion ended up being chosen, that meant we had to write that part of the story. It was so much fun! This play ended up being a collaboration of all four of us writing different parts to Titus' Grand Life. It was silly and memorable. I know the kids will remember this night for quite a while!