Lindsay Ballard, Author at Makely

If you are itching to pick up some great vintage holiday decor, now is the time to hit the thrift shops. Many shops hold their Christmas merchandise to put out once a year instead of having it on their shelves year-round. You never know who cleaned out their attics this year!

Just this week, I scored big time at one of our local thrift shops who holds their holiday merchandise back. I actually went in there to look for an antique dresser to refinish, but I jumped as soon as I saw these boxes.

People, I picked up six boxes of vintage glass Christmas ornaments – for $1 a box! I couldn’t believe my luck. Most of these ornaments are ever the popular Shiny Brites from the 1950s and 1960s. Some are a bit “newer,” but even the newer ones must be at least 20 years old. In the antique mall a few doors down from the thrift store, they sell these for about $3 per ornament. I bet those vendors hate that I beat them to the thrift store that day.

I now have my very own collection of vintage glass Christmas ornaments in gorgeous colors – blue, red, teal, white, silver, gold, rainbow, and even a few with flocked words and designs.

I was able to pick up 80 ornaments, but I’m on the hunt for more. For what? I don’t know. I’m considering making one of Eddie Ross’s gorgeous wreaths, but I’m going to hold off for a few weeks to see if I think of anything else interesting.

Have you scored some great vintage holiday decor at thrift stores? Are you on the search for something specific this year?

When we came upon my now-favorite booth during our trip to the City-Wide Garage Sale, I think an audible gasp could have been heard from within our little shopping group. It was one of those booths that has something you want to buy in every square inch of space. I found a wonderful chippy side table exactly like I’ve been looking for, but the vendor wanted $50 and I wanted to pay more like $10. Thrifting has certainly spoiled me!

At the same booth, we came across a pair of simple, but stunning wreaths made from book pages. The vendor told me that she made them sitting in front of the television. That’s my kind of crafting.

I honestly don’t remember how much she wanted for these lovelies, but I think it was at least $40 a pop.

Yeah, um, that’s way too rich for my blood. How about I show you how to make my version of the same wreath for just $2? Librarians and book lovers, please avert your eyes.

Book Page Wreath Tutorial

Supplies:

10″ foam wreath ($1 at Dollar Tree)
Paperback novel ($1 at Dollar Tree – depending on the length of the book, you may need two)
Brown and/or gray craft paint
Glue gun & glue sticks
Small strip of ribbon
A few paper towels
A few straight pins (optional)

1. Assemble your cast of characters. I felt slightly guilty about purchasing an author’s work from the Dollar Tree for the sole purpose of ripping up. I read a few pages of Loving Charity just to make sure I wasn’t about to destroy a literary classic; let me assure you that I wasn’t.

You could definitely use vintage books, magazines or sheet music for this project or even select a book off of your own bookshelf that you don’t think you’ll read again.

2. Using the paper towels, I applied the brown paint to the edges of the book. I simply squirted some paint onto the towel and wiped it on the book. I painted the brown first and then applied a bit of gray. This will give your book pages a vintage look. To be honest, two colors aren’t completely necessary, so you can use just gray or just brown if you would like.

Lay the book on a clean paper towel for about 5 or 10 minutes to let the paint dry.

3. Cut or tear a page out of the book and roll it in a method of your choosing. I put together a video tutorial to show you some different ways to roll the page if you are interested in seeing how I did it. The main thing to remember is that you want to roll the paper and not actually fold or crease it.

4. After rolling the page, apply some glue at the end of the roll and glue it to the wreath. Make sure that the painted edges are facing up.

You will do this layer all the way around the wreath. When you have finished the full circle, flip the wreath over. That layer will become the bottom. If it won’t lay flat, put something heavy on top of it to flatten it out for a few minutes.

5. Continue rolling pages for your wreath. You will now fold a little tab on the bottom edge and apply glue only to that tab. Work your way from the bottom of the wreath up to the top, finishing one layer before moving to the next.

6. Once you get to the inside of the wreath, roll the paper and apply glue to the edge much like you did with the bottom layer. When you glue it on, the pages will be shorter than the wreath of the wreath. That’s okay.

7. At this point, your wreath will be mostly done, but there will be some sections you need to fill in. It should look roughly like this.

To fill in your spaces, you’ll simply roll a page, apply glue to the ends, and just stick it in the wreath. The filler pages don’t necessarily need to touch the styrofoam wreath; they can stick to the pages already glued to the wreath if need be. Use the filler pages to fill in holes and add some height and visual interest to your wreath.

8. After I was finished filling in, I flip your wreath over and glue your scrap of ribbon on the back to serve as a hanger. I stuck a few straight pins in it to make sure it held tight to the wreath, but that’s purely optional if you glue it on well.

All that’s left to do now is to find a spot to hang your new creation!

Who says that books can only be used to decorate bookshelves and tabletops? Try one on your wall!Added to Kimba’s DIY Day party over at A Soft Place to Land.

‘Tis the Season to Visit Thrift Shops

Librarians, Please Avert Your Eyes