Sunday, December 5, 2010

Book page garland

So I did it...got the rest of my Christmas decorations up!  Had to say goodbye to my favorite chair for a month or so to make room for the tree.  Now I've had some trepidation about the tree because of this...


My day consists of following around the tornado that is Lily.  The girl is into everything!  She gets pure joy out of pulling things out of containers and tossing them behind her.  So that combined with shiny glass ornaments spells disaster.  And I'd prefer to not spend anymore time in the ER.

I figure that leaves me with three  two options:

1. Don't put the tree up at all.
2. Decorate the tree with unbreakable and/or disposable ornaments and trimmings.
3. Decorate the top half of the tree.

Option two seemed the best choice. This way I could have the tree fully decorated and it would still be safe AND I had a an excuse to make new decorations!!

Enter book page garland...



Here's what you need:


  • an old book, preferably with yellowed pages.  I bought 4 reader digest books at the thrift store for just under $3.  Score!
  • paper cutter or scissors
  • gold acrylic paint
  • glue stick
I took my I-don't-know-how-I-ever-lived-without-it paper cutter and cut up some pages from one of the books into 1 inch strips.


Then I channeled my 5 year old self and made some paper chains.


To add some sparkle I took some the gold paint and using my finger rubbed it haphazardly around the edges.


Because it was so easy and cheap I don't mind if over the next few weeks it gets ripped up.  Regardless it will be going in my recycling bin and I can easily do it again next year if need be.

I love the vintage look it gives to the tree.





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7 comments:

  1. you can also use tea bags to stain the pages if you dont have paint, can save a few bucks!

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  2. Looks great! I can relate to your post. My 18 mth old is into everything! EVERYTHING! We have our ornaments that aren't breakable at the bottom of the tree and the glass ones are at the top. Every morning he wakes up and goes to the tree and tries to pull of any that he can reach. This would have been a great addition. I'll have to make one next year.

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  3. that looks fabulous, andi! and safe, too! :)

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  4. Hi, I found you from the holiday link party at Somewhat Simple (I think). We have a one year old at our house, and the tree isn't up yet. Your paper garland has a timeless look - it's classy and simple. I may have to try it! Thanks for the great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this, Andi! It looks so classic. The gold paint is a perfect touch. Beautiful!

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  6. ACK!!!!! I am SOOO doing this for our tree this year!:) LOVE LOVE LOVE IT: )

    stepner4@gmail dot com

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