Handmade for the Holidays: Decorations from Deconstructed Books
November 26, 2012
Wreath made from the pages from a discarded book
I no longer do a lot of decorating for the holidays. I try to keep things simple and choose just a few ways to make the holiday season special and memorable. This year I’m making some decorations from deconstructed books.
Wreath made from paper cones
My first project was this wreath made from the pages of a discarded book. First I rolled several pages into cones, and then I stapled them onto a wire wreath form. I started with three cones in a row, and then overlapped the next three cones, and so on, around the form.
Standing trees made from discarded paperback books.
Detail of folded trees
Each of these standing trees was formerly a paperback book. I didn’t use a pattern, just began cutting with a scissors — starting with the horizontal cuts — and then trimmed and folded each page to get the desired shapes. I hope to end up with a small forest on our fireplace mantle.
I’ve written about other holiday papercraft projects over the years. If you’d like to see more, check out these links to past posts:
- Comfort and Joy garland
- Star garland
- Folded star book
- Paper star ornament
- Snowflake garland
- Paper snowballs
November 26, 2012 at 6:08 am
So creative – and I was happy for the link to the paper snowflakes. Those will be a perfect decoration for a friend who’s going to be in rehab through the holidays – small, unbreakable, valueless to any thief who might be around (we have to be realistic about these things) and yet pretty and seasonal.
The wreath and trees are great, but I think I’ll just pass those ideas on to others who have a little more time than I do.
November 26, 2012 at 8:02 am
OH, thank you for these. I have noticed that in our house, the adult kiddos do MUCH better together when I read them our old story books and take out the old christmas videos from the Children’s Section of the library. They were also MUCH happier and easier to uhm be around and with each other while visiting the library’s tortoise and rabbit. I used to structure long cold dark evenings with small crafty projects that we actually needed to use as we didn’t have much, but they just found it fun. Structure is good! These are nice and simple adult aimed things, that will keep them busy AND allow them to create their own ornaments for starting their own homes!
November 26, 2012 at 8:24 am
They’re all great, especially the snowflake garland. Thanks.
November 26, 2012 at 8:33 am
Love the wreath, such a great idea!