Book print wreath



I've had wreath envy for some time now.  Weird, I know.

I recently visited Paula and was inspired by all of her home decor.  Much of her decor is hand made and so cute.  She was given a book print wreath when she worked at Stampin' Up! and I recall then that I wanted one too.  During our visit I got a closer look and decided I was going to make one.  After I left I looked online and found many examples of book wreaths but none were as cool as Paula's. Good thing I snapped phone pictures of hers...  I referenced them many, many, times.

All you need is a wreath base, an old book, stapler and glue gun. It turned out to be fairly easy and just a little time consuming.  My wreath took about 3 hours.  Here are the steps I took if you are interested in making one too.

1. Find and old book you don't care about destroying.  I found a couple of great old readers digest books at the DI (thrift store). The good thing about the readers digest books is that they were printed on CHEAP paper and so the pages are yellowed as if the book is much older.

2.  Find a wreath (again found at the DI).  Doesn't matter what it looks like because you will cover it completely. Attach ribbon to the wreath. I found this easier to do first than attaching to the back after.

3. Tear out all of the pages in the book. My wreath took over 500 pages.

4. Roll fold each page in an S shape and staple once at the bottom (torn end).

5. Start at the back of the wreath and hot glue each folded page around the wreath. Continue gluing, moving the pages forward until it fills up.

6. Randomly fill in pages to make the wreath look a little less organized.  Look for holes and fill in the holes.

7.  Hang.



I enjoyed this so much that I made a smaller version for Kylene's birthday.  For that wreath I tore out pages and cut them in half, again about 250 pages, 500 sheets once cut - this worked perfect for a smaller wreath (time 1.5 hours).

Next I want to make a burlap wreath...

Welcome October










I love to decorate for Halloween in October. This year I decided to add two pumpkin topiary to the front porch utilizing the flower pots from the summer. The boys helped pick out the right sized pumpkins and then we stacked and fixed them together. Then I applied some of Stampin' Up! seasonal Decor Elements to the pumpkins. After Halloween I can remove the spiders and still keep the pumpkins for November.

I thought I'd go with a snake and spider theme this year. I like the Spiders crawling up the pumpkins, they are kinda creepy. I also found some larger spiders at the dollar store to hang above the pumpkins. They are attached to wire and they sway nicely with the wind.

Some of you may remember the snake wreath I made from last year. I touched up the paint on the wreath an hung up the creepy thing and then topped off the door with another Halloween decor piece applied to the door. We had our carpets cleaned the other day and the carpet cleaner guys really liked the wreath and so I'm considering that piece of decor a WIN.

I couldn't resist adding the crow silhouette to the bottom of the double garage door. It's a small detail and at first glance looks pretty real. I do a double take every morning and a few neighbors have as well. The dogs in the neighborhood are also fascinated with this addition. I might have to remove it!

Inside I've kept it fairly simple with pumpkins in jars and dishes.

We are loving this fall weather and now that it's not so hot spending much time outdoors. Happy fall!


Snake wreath





I love Halloween! This year I did not decorate very much for Halloween (too overwhelming, not enough time). But I did get inspired by my October Martha magazine and made this snake wreath. The boys had bunches of old rubber snakes that they no longer played with. The snakes were easy to spray paint black. After painted,I glued, wrapped and wired them around a wicker wreath (4$ from Micheals). It was a fun project and I think it turned out pretty cool.