Make an Autumn Book Page Leaf Garland
Want to make an Autumn Book Page Leaf Garland to decorate around your mantle or a doorway? Two years ago, I saw this beautiful wreath in a magazine. I snapped a picture with my phone and figured I’d try to DIY my own version. Then I forgot about it until I stumbled upon the picture recently. After a little research, I found that the wreath was a Martha Stewart contest winner by Emily Morris.
I loved the leaf shape and the simplicity of the project. So, I decided to alter it slightly to work as a garland for our mantle.
Materials:
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- Old yellowing book
- Scissors or x-acto knife
- Pencil
- Leaf template
- Scotch Tape
- Twine
- Pine cones
- Floral wire
- Cup hooks installed on mantle
- 2 Large wooden beads
Instructions:
Start by printing out the leaf template (or make your own by following Mural Maker’s guide to painting an oak leaf.)
Tear out sections of the old book.
Lay the leaf templates onto the book pages and trace around the leaf.
Cut out a stack of leaves. Continue until you have about 50 book page leaves. This is also a great project that the kids can help with. Especially preschoolers or kindergartners who are learning cutting skills.
Gather the leaves, twine and scotch tape near your mantle.
Tape three leaves together in a cluster.
Tie the twine onto the cup hooks and swag them between the hooks. Simply tape the leaves to the twine. By securing them on the backs of the leaves, you won’t see the tape.
Continue taping the clusters on the twine. Then start filling in between the hooks with single leaves.
Tie a bead at each end of the garland.
Hang pine cones over the cup hooks using floral wire.
Step back and admire your fall décor.
Next, I’ll let you see all the fall decorating I completed in our living room. It’s warm, weathered and colorful…and I think you’ll love it!
Have you started to decorate for fall? Do you have your wreath yet? If you need more ideas, enjoy these 24 more Fall wreath ideas:
Great idea! I would have never thought book pages look good at leafs but they totally do!
I’m definitely going to give this a try. I love the way the leaves look with the twine, and the beads at the end are a great finishing touch.
i super want this garland, and maybe this has inspired me to use that shutter in my trunk in some way…hmmm!
That is so beautiful.. I love how simple and timeless it is 🙂
How could I ever do this to books… beautiful, precious books!
I love this idea, but I couldn’t cut up my books. I love them too much! I think I may steal the idea and cut out Christmasy shapes from my old cards to decorate with though.
Grand idea!!!
i love the clothespins holding up the pictures….. and that shade of red is my favorite, favorite, favorite colour!!
I love this idea!
I totally am going to show this to my mother she loves this kind of stuff. I think people reading this would really like DIY stuff materials like this too. http://tiny.cc/q497jw
Beautiful! I am going to try to recreate this in our home….the only problem is we have a brick mantel, so I’ll have to figure out another solution for hanging. Love it! 🙂