Absolutely Arkansas: Book page wreath

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Hello All!

I hope this email finds you well, as today was a very difficult day for me. TMZ broke the news that Jessica Biel, and Justin Timberlake tied the knot over the weekend. After spilling my coffee over myself (not really..I don’t drink coffee) I had to wipe away the tears, and keep the sobs down as to not alert everyone at work. Okay, none of that happened…but I am still bummed such a hot piece of ass is off the market. Aren’t you?

My sad, blank wall

On another note completely, I spent this past weekend filling up a really blank spot in my room. I recently came across The nesting place, and it is totally now one of my favorite blogs. Her knack for making imperfect perfect is impeccable, and I have to say our styles are very similar when it comes to a beautiful home that looks, “lived in”. She posted her “Book Page Wreath” and my mouth dropped! It was so beautiful and I knew it would be the perfect project for this blank wall of mine.

So I set out to make it happen. I went to the flea market and picked up 2 old paperback books for $1.00, and then I went on over to the hardware store to grab some of the foam pipe stuff you put over your pipes to keep em from freezing. Did you know that Hobby Lobby charges FIFTEEN DOLLARS for a large foam wreath form?! You wont catch me spending that much on something I’m just going to decorate, no siree.

Dont ya love this SUPER awesome picture of my supplies?

So in total you will need:

2 thick paperback books that you feel comfortable destroying. (Don’t use your favorite here…Twilight has a place on my bookcase, but no place on my wreath)

Foam pipe covers…(or wreath forms…if you want to spend that much)

Duct Tape

An insane amount of hot glue

And your hot glue gun

That’s it! And it creates this masterpiece!

First, take your pipe and form it into a circle size that you would like, then duct tape several layers around to hold it tight. Remember, once you glue your paper cones on, it will be about 6 inches larger than the circle you make.

Basically, I just rolled each book page into a cone, and squeezed a little dot of hot glue to seal it before gluing it onto my form. You just move around in the circle, overlapping the cones as you go, and then do another layer on top of that layer, and another layer on top of that layer, and so on.

Eventually, it will look right to you, and you’re done! I made a large wreath, a medium-large wreath, and an oval wreath so they made a nice little trio on my wall. The first one took me about an hour and a half, but once you get the hang of it, I did the last 2 in about 30 minutes each!

Be prepared for some serious hot glue burns though, that little monster spares no prisoners. Is that a saying? It sounds like one…

Anyways you’ll love your completed art work, and be eager to show it off to everyone you know! Each wreath came in at about 65 cents with the books and foam, (cause I already had the hot glue), and I’d call that an A+ craft!