Framed Book Page Wreath

As I've stated before, I love using wreaths indoors but find them to be too overpriced!  Luckily, I recently discovered a wonderful blog, The Pleasures of Homemaking, that covers a variety of home decorating and do-it-yourself topics.  The blog's author, Manuela (who is from my home state of Georgia!), created a beautiful wreath using the pages of an old book.  Being a huge bookworm and loving the idea of adding another wreath to my home, I had to try it out.

The best part about this project (besides the beauty of the result!) is that it was so inexpensive.  The cost broke down as follows:  paperback at Goodwill-$1.50:  circular corkboard made to place under a houseplant: 25 CENTS on sale at the Dollar Store. That was it (provided you already have a gluegun which is not very expensive).

I began by tearing pages out of the paperback, folding them several time longways, and taping the ends.

I then glued them in a circle along the edges of the corkboard.  (You can use other material--posterboard, foamboard, etc. for the wreath base.  I made another one of these and used the cardboard from an empty box of file folders.)  Once I completed the outer circle, I began another smaller circle inside the first until I had it nicely filled in.

Once I was done with the book pages, I took tan coffee filters, folded them longways also, and glued them in a circle in the center, making a little flower.  I finished it off with a small plastic pumpkin I had sitting in a

windowsill.

I recently bought a framed flower print on sale for $14 at Steinmart.  I loved the frame, but not the picture.  So, I took off the back and carefully removed it as well as the glass.  I then took the piece of cardboard inside and covered it using a glue gun with two beautiful (and cheap) pieces of cloth from Hobby Lobby and returned the covered cardboard to its frame.

Rush and Amos made the process more "interesting."

The last step was to glue the wreath onto the onto the framed fabric.  I was thrilled with the result!

This are my favorite kind of project--one that is cheap to do but looks more expensive than it really is and not homemade at all! 

Thanks to Manuela for inspiring this lovely wreath.  You can find her blog link at the beginning of this post, and I have also put her button on my sidebar.

More creations to come!