This was actually a very difficult project for me to make.  Why?  Because in order to make it, I had to cut up books.  I’ve had a deep love and respect for books since the first time I walked into a library when I was very young.  Books have not only taught me so much, but they have taken me to worlds I may never have even imagined.

This was a project that was requested by a friend of mine, who wanted this to be used at a baby shower as well as a decoration for the baby’s room.  I did a lot of research for this project and this is my version of it.  I hope you enjoy it.

I gathered up the supplies that I needed.  From what I’d read I needed a stapler, tape, scissors & a hot glue gun.  Although my tape didn’t want to stick so I eventually ended up hot gluing all of the cones needed for this project.  And you’ll need a lot of hot glue sticks.  I can’t remember how many glue sticks I went through, but it was a lot.

And I needed books.  Lots and lots of books.  These were provided by my friend and purchased at a second hand store.

I opened up each book to reveal the book’s spine threads.  I used a razor to cut the threads.

   

Once the threads were removed, I cut out the pages.  Once the pages were removed, I used the scissors to trim each page.

         

I had so many piles of pages that I lost count, so I grouped the pages into groups of 25.  I just used binder clips to hold the groups together.

Next, I started to roll each page into a cone shape.  Like I said, taping the cones together just didn’t hold for me, so I put some hot glue on the corner & rolled the cone into the glue.

  

And the first one was done.  Then I stapled the cone about 1″ up from the point.

One down, tons to do.  I was rolling these cones for hours and they started to take over the craft room.  I made over 100 cones.

Okay, cones done, now I needed something to put them on.  I used foam board because it’s easy to work with & is light weight so hanging it on the wall doesn’t require any special nails.  I cut the foam board into a 12″ x 14″ shape.

   

Then I drew 2 circles in the center of the board.  One that was 4″ in diameter & one that was 8″ in diameter.  I used an old fashioned compass to make the circles.  Then I marked the circles at quarter marks.  (12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock & 9 o’clock)

I started at the outer circle & glued a cone to each of the 4 marks on the circle.  This is to make sure that the cones are placed evenly & aren’t bunched up in one area.  I pretty much lined up the staples on the cones with circles on the foam board.

Then I just filled in the areas between the quarter marks evenly.

And I used a lot of glue to hold them in place securely.

Once the first row was done, I started on the second row, lining up the cones with the smaller circle the same way that I did the first row.

Next was the final row.  By this time, it was so big that I had trouble getting the glue gun into the center with out the glue gun’s cord trying to get tangled up in the cones.  I found that applying glue to the back side of the cone first & then gluing it into place was the easiest.

Now for the center piece of the wreath to cover the staples & give it a finished look.  I knew that they wanted a puppy & that they were having a boy, so I went online to find an image that fit the bill.  I found one that was actually a balloon.  To give credit to where I found the image, I found it here.  I copied it & printed it out in a word document on to cardstock.  I made several sizes because I wasn’t sure how big I’d need it to be.

I measured the center of the wreath.  It was roughly 2 1/2″ wide, but I needed it bigger to cover all of the staples.  I chose the 3″ size.

The cardstock was too flimsy, so I got a 3″ round wooden disk &  painted it white.

To apply the cardstock to the wood disk, I used Aileen’s tacky glue & applied it with a paint brush.

I glued the cardstock to the wood disk, smoothing out any wrinkles.

I put a lot of hot glue on to the back of the wood disk & then pressed it into place.  I held it down tightly until the glue had cooled.

Once it had cooled, it was finished.

Now to add something to hang it.  I just used a binder clip, clipped onto the back.  But don’t do what I did… Center the binder clip before you attach it.  It marks the foam board.  (sorry)

Now it’s finished & ready to hang in baby’s room.

It’s so colorful because of all of the different pages.

The finished project was close to 30″ wide.

I think it will show up nicely in the baby’s room.

So, if you don’t mind cutting up books & have a few hours on your hands, this project will make a very nice addition to a baby’s nursery.

In hindsight, I guess you could use scrapbook paper, but it would cost a small fortune.

Happy Creating everyone!