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.

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.

I wanted to create a year-round decorating solution for my dining room table. I’ve mentioned that I tend to change my centerpiece with the seasons and holidays, but I needed something else on it to give it more texture and visual interest.

I will be the first to admit that I’m not a big fan of burlap. I think it’s itchy and sheady, but I also have weird issues with some textures (For instance, velvet and upholstery foam send shivers down my spine. Yep, I’m odd.), so don’t listen to me in that regard. However, I decided that a table runner made from burlap would satisfy my need for more texture on my table, my need to have something that would work year-round, and my need for something cheap. And since I don’t really have to touch it all that often, that works for me, too.

The runner was so cheap and easy to put together, that I want to teach you how to make one, too. You’ll love having this on your table.

For this tutorial, there are three different versions I’m going to show you:

1. Sew version – using a sewing machine (what I did);
2. Semi-sew version – using stitch witchery or no-sew hemming;
3. No-sew version – just cut and go. I will add the special no-sew instructions in italics.

Begin by measuring the length of your table. Mine is 79″ long.

Next, you will need to figure out the dimensions of your runner. I generally like my runner to overhang the length of the table by 6-8″ on each side. I personally think that runners that only overhang a few inches or don’t overhang at all look a little anorexic, but that’s just me. Runners are also generally 14-18″ in width, but again, choose what works for your table.

Because I’m one of those people who likes to see everything in writing, I wrote out my dimensions to use for cutting the burlap. If you are going to create the sew or semi-sew version of the runner, be sure to add in the 2″seam allowances as I did. If you are going to create the no-sew version, leave the 2″ seam allowances out of your calculations.

Are you following me?

If you don’t already have a stash of burlap on hand, head to a fabric store and pick some up. It’s generally less than $3/yard. For my runner, I needed about 2 1/4 yards. Burlap comes in an array of colors – white, black, natural, red, orange – so choose what works best for your decor.

Once you are home with your burlap, throw it in the washer and dryer if you are doing the sew or semi-sew version. If you are doing the no-sew version, do not wash it now. We’ll do that in a bit.

Now we’re ready to cut. Spread out your burlap on the floor and use a yard stick or tape measure to mark of your dimensions you calculated earlier. Follow the weave of the burlap to cut your lines as straight as possible. If you have already washed your burlap, go ahead and cut off the frayed selvage edges before you cut out your runner.

For the no-sew variety, now all you have to do is fray your edges! Throw your cut piece into the washer and dryer to soften the fabric and fray the edges. When it’s dry, or almost dry, iron the piece on a high setting and place on your table. Congrats! You’re finished!

For the sew and semi-sew varieties, fold under each edge 1/2″ and press. Repeat by folding under each edge 1/2″ again and press. I generally like to do the double folds on the long sides first and then the short sides so that I end up with nice square corners.

Now you can either add a strip of stitch witchery underneath the folds and iron it according to the directions on the package or you can run it through the sewing machine, as I did mine. Regardless of your method for seaming the edges, your are now ready to enjoy your simple new table runner!

There are so many different ways to embellish the burlap if you would like to. I will probably end up stenciling B’s on the hanging parts of the table runner (of course) once I get tired of the way it looks now. Check out Tiffany’s easy burlap stenciling technique at la*T*da. Love it!

Do you see a $7 burlap table runner in your future?