Christmas wreath - An up-cycled book!

The school library are throwing out some lovely old books. They are out of date.
I intercepted them as they were about to be thrown into the paper recycling bin.
I ignored the rolling eyes and the "what are you going to do with all those old books?" comments and whisked away the books in the book trolley. (there were a lot!)

Oh, firstly at lunch time the kids helped me to rip pages out, fold them and staple them into paper chains to decorate the library for Christmas.

Then I took some home and made this…

I am so happy with how it turned out.

It all started with searching the web for craft ideas for using up old books.

Watched this one You Tube video.

Then just a few hours and materials I had around the house and ta da!

Basically… 

Start with a large circle of cardboard (40 - 50 cm round?) I used a lid from a fruit box.

Put a point in the centre.

with a compass, draw 2 circles, on with a diameter of 10 cm and the other, 20cm.

Mark the circle at each quarter point.

Turn it over and glue a string loop at the back near the top of the circle so you can hang it when it is done.

Now rip out the pages from the book and trim them. (I used about 65)

Roll them into a cone, sticky tape to secure.

(Try not to make the cone's too skinny).

Flatten the end and staple about 3cm from the tip of the cone.

Now go crazy with a glue gun (have plenty of glue sticks ready.)

Clue the tips of each cone around the outside circle first, starting at the quarter points.

Put a tiny dab of glue further up the cone too to stop them bending.

Then do a second row.

The video shows just 2 rows but I cut some pages a bit smaller and made slightly smaller cones and made a third row, which all joined at the centre point of the circle.

Then I bought some cheap gold baubles, some big and some little and glued them randomly in the centre.

Give it a try… it is so cheap, easy and a glamourous decoration for this Christmas.

Diana x