Recycled Christmas wreath.
By jillhill
@jillhill (37353)
United States
December 1, 2011 6:00pm CST
I just finished making a wreath that is totally awesome. You use an antique or old book and roll the pages into cones and put them in a circle....fill the center with colorful balls. I found the pattern on youtube....and I love it! If you are a music lover using old music books would be so very special....do you make inexpensive and recycled decorations? This wreath cost me about five dollars. Most of the things are right in your own home or at the dollar store.
4 people like this
16 responses
@cynthiann (18612)
• Jamaica
2 Dec 11
I loved going to the Dollar store in the U.S. Just to browse around was exciting. I read something recently that I want to try. It is painting the outside of different glass jars with a mixture of school glue and food colouring and I cannot find it again. I have some different sized decorative glass jars and would like to paint them turquoise as a gift to my daughter. But I cannot remember the colors that were mixed to make the turquoise. Perhaps a blue with a hint of green or vice versa? You know that I do not do crafts but the glasses an jars I have are decorative on the outside and I so want to do this for her. I just cannot find the instructions 
anywhere
anywhere@cynthiann (18612)
• Jamaica
5 Dec 11
It was a total success. yesterday had my soon-to-be-eleven years old GD with me and she is quite artistic. so whilst I baked the cakes for Christmas she got started on the project. I had some very old (50) years glass mason jars with decorative work on the outside plus some different sized and shaped glass jars.
We went with the turquoise as this is her Christmas present to my daughter. Then, my GD suggested that if we put the glass jars into the oven for a few minutes before applying the glue mixture then it would spread more easily. (God, these kids are bright). sure enough it spread on like a dream and the effect is really quite stunning. And no, I cam send a photo by my BB but do not have a digital camera.
It looks absolutely stunning. She did a fantastic job - probably better than I could have done
@MaryLynn321 (2680)
• United States
4 Dec 11
I like to recycle my old artificial wreaths. I pick up flowers, pine cones, bulbs, holly, ribbons, etc., at rummage sales or thrift stores. I also use the Dollar Tree. It is nice to take the old faded things off and make a totally different wreath each year.
I also do this for the Cemetery for the Christmas wreath on my Parent's grave. I know that they would like it and they would not think I was being cheap.
@MaryLynn321 (2680)
• United States
4 Dec 11
Thank you. You can revamp any or all artificial flower arrangements, wreaths, etc. Just a bit of change of color, etc. And walla something new.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
2 Dec 11
That sounds really neat to make. I used to love to make crafts also, not only for myself, but for others too. I just do not have the time to do it anymore.
@secretbear (19448)
• Philippines
7 Dec 11
Hi Jill!
That sounds great and economical. I like recycling but I'm not into creative stuffs like that. I would have liked to recycle our old Christmas decorations and make them into something new but I don't have any idea how to do it. Every year, we just buy new Christmas decors although we use the same Christmas tree every year.
@Kashmeresmycat (6369)
• United States
5 Dec 11
Sounds very cool Jill! Where's your picture? I would have loved to see this and I bet it's just adorable.
I've never done this but I know some people take old vintage jewelry and make a Christmas tree out of it, using the whole piece or parts of it such as pearls, rhinestones, etc. It's done in a frame and you glue all the pieces to it one by one and then you can hang it. They're very pretty but very time consuming. I would imagine you could even make a snowman this way too and hang him up, using white pieces of jewelry.
Thanks for sharing, sounds sweet!
@marguicha (230349)
• Chile
2 Dec 11
I love to recycle and as I have not been well of health I had forgotten about the wreath. Thanks for giving me ideas! I will start checking what I have on hand tomorrow. Take care and good for you. Do send us a picture of your wreath.
! I will start checking what I have on hand tomorrow. Take care and good for you. Do send us a picture of your wreath.
@carolbee (16230)
• United States
2 Dec 11
This project is a very clever idea. Do you think old magazines would work also? I remember several years ago someone making a wreath with pieces of candy. It was somehow attached to a hanger. I bought a couple and gave to friends and they loved it. Guess I could find a similar pattern on the internet.
@SomeCowgirl (32189)
• United States
2 Dec 11
I'm not quite sure I get what your saying, how do you put them in a circle after you wrap them in cone shaped, wouldn't it be a bit.. well mis-shapen? I guess you can bend the paper though lol.
Sounds like a neat idea. The antique look would be nice, kind of old christmasy. I'd put gold and silver, some red ornaments in it, a bit of pine cones.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
2 Dec 11
That's a really neat idea.. you could do that for almost anyone. Like you said, music pages for the music lover, pictures of animals, pictures of flowers.. anything the person is into.
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
2 Dec 11
Well that is a great idea! I wished you have attached a photo of this wreath of yours here for us to see. I actually do love craft ideas such as this. I find so much delight in decorating my home for the Christmas and would be glad to recycle old things into beautiful Christmas decors. That will give great savings! The Christmas decorations found in the shop are mostly so costly so it is very helpful to be creative and be able to make great decors out of scratch. As for me, I just make use of the same old Christmas decors I just have to arrange them in different creative ways to look new each Christmas. I've decorated and put up my Christmas tree and it looks very new and different. I did it without even buying new decorations.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
2 Dec 11
Oh, my, I don't think I could 'kill' a book. Maybe a phone book or an old almanac. But you've given me a good idea. I've got several old phone books around here. Don't know why I've still got them. I think I keep forgetting to put them out with the stuff to be recycled. You're very clever to think of doing something like that.
@beamer88 (4259)
• Philippines
2 Dec 11
We do make some inexpensive Christmas decors out of recycled stuff. My son especially loves doing it, and we're always the proud parents who display what he does. We haven't done a wreath, though. We store our Christmas decors properly so we could use them the following holiday, the wreath included. But, to be honest, I don't think I'd use old books. I could sell them and make some money out of it :)
@gaea23 (252)
• Philippines
2 Dec 11
Wow! I think that's really nice. I wanted to try that one too, I can save money for that inexpensive wreath, it's a good thing because I have to save money and it will help me if I only do the same as what you did to have a Christmas Wreath. Thanks to your good idea shared here.
@lilaclady (28206)
• Australia
2 Dec 11
I am not sure if it is the same thing but years ago when I was volunteering at a nursing home we used telephone books to fold the pages to make a Christmas Tree, they looked good when they were finished but I think yours is different, love to see a photo of it..
@ardoy0731 (7308)
• Philippines
2 Dec 11
I remembered back in High school we usually do this at school.We used old newspaper,bottle caps,empty plastic bottles,dried leaves to make a wreath.There is also a contest for best wreath in each level.
