Two Free Paper Wreath Tutorials...

Let's all talk about some wreaths.

Some hand make paper el cheapo ones. As in, I spent nada on these. Just used stuff I already had lying around. Super thrifty decor.

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There is about eleventy hundred thousand book page wreaths out in crafty blog land rightthisverysecond and I was feeling left out and had to join in on the fun. Of course, I did it MY way. With shortcuts. Of course.

1. Grab an old book. We're going to thrash it so don't choose something important!

2. Rip ALL the pages out from the binding. I ripped the pages out in about 50 page handfuls at a time.

3. Stack them and while holding them dab and lightly paint the edges with dark brown or black craft paint and let dry. *** OR, do what I did....which was run out to the garage, hold the stack of pages in my hand and give it a 7 second shot of espresso brown spray paint. Simple and quick drying...perfect except for the large spray paint splotch on my left hand. ***

4. Go out and purchase a foam round wreath base. *** OR, do what I did...which was to eat pizza. Grab that perfectly round (if slightly smelly) cardboard pizza liner and cut a large hole out of the center with your kitchen shears. Voila. You've got a wreath base...and you get pizza. Win-win situation. ***

5. Scrunch, roll and accordian fold the pages and glue them individually to your frame, making sure to hide all evidence of frame. *** OR, do what I did....staple them in large chunks and glue gun only when necessary. Saved a TON of time.***

6. Hang on wall. Take pics and blog about it.

Easy peasy. Perfect to do while watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Next up, rolled paper wreaths. Most of the rolled paper wreaths I've been seeing are made of vintage sheet music which is cool....except I didn't have any and didn't want to purchase any. Huh, I wonder WHAT kind of paper that I can use in large quantities that I have lying around??? Oh yes of course, my Christmas wrapping paper stash.

I mean c'mon, you all know I shop at Costco. I buy a hugenormous wrapping paper roll every Christmas and use about 1/1000th of the roll. Perfect!
1. Grab wrapping paper you like.
2. Eat more pizza. OR, if you want to be more classy, use a non-pizza sauce stained piece of cardboard to trace and cut out a circle frame for your wreath.
3. Cut a thousand or so (exaggeration. I don't want nasty emails from readers complaining that I misguided them in a craft tutorial and have caused them to suffer carpal tunnel syndrome) squares of wrapping paper. I did about 12x12 ish. And I used an old dull rotary cutter to slice though the paper quickly.

4. Heat up that glue gun and start rolling, keeping the printed side of the paper on the outside. Make cones that are smaller at one end and bigger at the end. Use a tiny dot of glue so your cone doesn't unroll when you let go. Position and glue to your frame.

5. Uh, keep doing that until it's done. It looks BETTER to be unperfect and have cones that are larger and some smaller...and the pattern varying a bit.

Done! This was my first one that I hung above my slider doorframe:

Then my sis-in-law came over and we got bit by the craft bugs and came up with:

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I completely LOVE the candy cane wrapping paper. Which means this wreath is my fave too. Hang a $1 silver glittery Merry Christmas ornament in the middle and you are DONE. Hang above fireplace, stand back and enjoy.

Now, get to paper wreath creating!

A

P.S. For all you delightful lovelies, I have decided to have an indefinitely active Vintage Dutch Girl Etsy shop coupon code for 15% off all orders. Cause you are delightful. AND lovely. Your 15% off coupon code is: FOLLOWLOVE15 . Happy Shopping!

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