Guest Blogger Jennifer- Book Page Wreath...

I am so excited to welcome my fabulous and creative friend Jennifer as a Guest Blogger today! You're gonna LOVE her project (and her)! Let's jump right in...

The talented Cyndy was at a party at my house in early December and asked me to be a guest blogger on The Exchange. I am a huge fan of her blog so I delightfully accepted. With Christmas, New Year’s, the help of a very active toddler, and my uncanny knack for procrastination I am finally getting around to it. I received my daily Etsy email yesterday (01-12-2011) and low and behold some crafty soul is selling these things for $65.00. This little juicy tidbit put my procrastination in the backseat and I called Cyndy in utter disgust! Anyway sorry for the delay- if there is any consolation this is a GREAT year round wreath. And for this tutorial I am making a heart shaped wreath in honor of Valentine’s Day.

I frequently pirate cute ideas from a photographer pal in Oklahoma and she had posted (a couple of months ago) about a friend of hers who made adorable flowers from used books. She provided me with a link to her friend’s instructions. I checked it out and decided the flowers were WAY beyond my pathetic crafting skills. I did, however, have what I thought to be an original idea- for once! I thought I could make a wreath from recycled books. Super E (the perky toddler) and I made our weekly visit to the Women’s Shelter Thrift Store (in Lufkin) to search for used books. I found two books that I loved for their size, font, font size and discoloration of their pages. One is a type of textbook on Linguistics and the other is entitled "The New Male Sexuality"I think that is so funny because I chose it for its discoloration and age (and no- I didn’t read it first, but probably should and I might not be single anymore). The used books were a steal at 85 cents and 75 cents- WOOT WOOT!


You will need:

• 1-2 books (I used ones that were about 9”high & 6”wide):









• A paper trimmer or scissors if you roll “old school”:






• Floral Wire (I used the 26 gauge from Hobby Lobby):





• A wire wreath (Hobby Lobby):



• Patience and time alone (i.e. without a 3-yr old) ...


Begin by tearing out (carefully) a few pages of the book.






Slice them using the trimmer into about 1.5” strips (I think I made 4 strips per page):





I like using two different books because you can actually read parts of them when finished- kind of makes it a little more interesting, but should be a warning to you to choose a book slightly less pornographic than the one I chose. It took my dirty minded baby sister about 3.6 seconds to look at my artsy wreath and spot the word “orgasm.” Whoops.


Pinch and fold the strips in the middle (where you will attach your floral wire and wire to the wreath base):





Wire each piece to the base and fill in:





The pieces will slide around a lot and it is pretty frustrating, but just keep filling in until the wreath is full.














Enjoy!

Jennifer

Wow! Thank you so much Jennifer for sharing this idea! I fell in love with Jennifer's book page wreath and am thrilled that she agreed to share a tutorial. I hope she will share more of her ideas with us very soon!

This is a year-round wreath and I love how she has it displayed on a wall in her beautiful home! To see it in person, it looks like a beautiful piece of art, she really nailed it! I can't wait to see what she thinks of next! Thanks again girl!


Look for a room revamp posting coming up this next week. Don't get scared but I've been organizing! UGH!

Thank you again for your sweet comments, notes and emails! I can't tell you how much I appreciate them!

Cheers!

Cyndy

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