DIY The Perfect Wreath For Spring By Reusing An Old Book

Springtime decor is a time of much-appreciated blooming florals and crisp accents after the long winter. Wreaths, while often associated with the fall and winter, can be a splendid way to refresh your home for spring, be it on your front door, a mantle, or anywhere in your home you need a touch of flowers or greenery. While stores are flush with colorful spring floral arrangements and wreaths, a perfect DIY option may be found much closer to home in the pages of old and discarded books. With a few cuts and some time spent folding, you can create a beautiful bookish paper wreath that's perfect for your decor all year round.

To create this DIY, you will need pages from an old book, a paper cutter or scissors, a ruler, a glue gun, and a cardboard circle cut to the desired size of your wreath. The result is a paper sculpture that is far more dynamic and intricate than the usual store-bought wreaths. It's also an eco-friendly solution to plastic faux wreaths, in that it's compostable or recyclable for whenever you're done with it. In addition, it's a way to incorporate books as art in your home or the perfect gift for your favorite book lover.

For each wreath, you will need squares cut from old book pages in two sizes: 4x4-inch squares for the outer petals and smaller 3x3-inch pieces for the center. How many you need will be determined by the size of your cardboard template and how many concentric rows of petals it requires. You start by folding your larger book page squares into cone shapes and stapling their pointy ends. 

To prepare your template, draw an inner circle about 1 inch from the edge, which will help guide the placement of the petals. Take each cone and add it with a dab of hot glue to the cardboard along this line. Work all the way around and then inward toward the center with multiple rows, making sure the petals overlap so you can't see any of the cardboard. In the center, add the smaller cones to fill in any extra space there. To hang, add a string or wire to the back of your cardboard.

 While this tutorial creates a neutral dahlia-shaped wreath, there are many other similar projects for using old book or magazine pages to create paper wreaths. For fun variations that look like other garden flower varieties, use accordion-folded pieces, paper loops, or fringe-cut pieces.  You can also make a wreath from simple rolled scrolls secured with glue or ribbon placed along a cardboard or metal wreath form.

There are numerous opportunities for customization of this project or similar ones, including using colored pages to create a more brightly colored wreath. Great colorful sources include photo books, magazines, or children's picture books. You can also add acrylic or watercolor paint to the pages before adding them to the wreath or dye them with tea to get a weathered antiqued look for new book pages. Add other paper accents like leaves or stars to decorate your wreath, as well as fun accents like silk ribbon or spray glitter. Origami flowers or paper roses, as seen in this clever TikTok hack that turns books into beautiful decor, are also great additions. You can easily customize the wreath to fit other seasons throughout the year by using holiday-centric reading material to create the petals, such as a copy of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens in winter or a fun children's Halloween book for autumn.