Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

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Monday 10 December 2018

How to fold a book Christmas tree table decoration

Do you do Christmas crafting? A few years ago I tore this how-to page out of a magazine. The project was to make Christmas tree table decorations from old books. I put the page away to do "later". It is now "later". 


I had a quiet morning to myself the other day, so I sat down with the bits and pieces I had, to make the book tree. I had stored away a couple of 6-monthly programme books from our city entertainment centre which had a thicker paper and coloured pictures which I thought would be nice to add some colour to my book tree. Old Reader's Digest condensed books, or unloved paper back books, the ones with slightly thicker paper, are great for these projects too.
The instructions say you need about a 100-150 page book for this project.  It is a good idea to have a paper folding tool or a ruler, so you can fold nice crisp edges, and work on a firm surface.


First you need to carefully tear off the cover of the book.  Then fold over the right hand side of the first page diagonally longways so it lines up with the spine.



 Then fold this page again diagonally longways, so it again lines up with the spine. Sharpen your folds with your folding tool and make sure you get your fold right into the spine as far as you can.


 Then fold up the little triangle at the bottom of the page, and tuck it in, so that the tree has a flat bottom.
Repeat with the rest of the book.

Form the completed folded pages into the tree shape, and put a line of glue down the spine to hold. I had two 50 page books, which I glued together once I had folded all the pages. Make a star to go on the top, or decorate as you like.  For some reason I didn't end up with a star on the top of mine, I might have to fix that!


 Another project I did this week was started at one of the free mini workshops at our local library - making stars and trees out of twigs. All you need is thin twigs, a hot glue gun, leaves, gold, silver, red or glitter paint if you wish, string, ribbon and embellishments. Thin florestry wire is also useful. These can be small to hang on a tree or bigger to decorate your front door instead of a wreath. And can be as plain or decorative as you wish.

 Thank you so much for stopping by. Do you have a craft project for Christmas. Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.  

You might also like:
How to make a paper wreath 
How to make a simple paper flower 
Exploring your creative side in retirement

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11 comments:

  1. Hello Jill,
    Your paper trees are a good use for discarded books. I like to make things, too, although my time is limited these days. Years ago I found a pattern for paper cutting trees from white paper and I made a set from a thick textured linen paper. They appear every year in our decor, yellowing a little now, but still beautiful. Creativity is such an important part of life.

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  2. Hello Jill, I love these craft ideas. The book tree and twigs ornaments are so cute.
    Well done. Happy Monday, enjoy your day and new week ahead!

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  3. I love the little twigs! I've picked up pinecones for crafting...now I need a bag for twigs when I hike! heehee! Holiday hugs!

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  4. Jill - as you know, I have been working on my Christmas cross-stitch, but I also have completed a couple of other projects that will probably be in my next post. In the meantime, I have made a note of this post. Next year, I am hoping to start a weekly craft group, and this would be a perfect project for late November/early December. Thanks for linking up to Mosaic Monday this week!

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  5. The twig decorations are adorable and I might try that book folding project! You did great, thanks for the tips.

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  6. You are so talented Jill. I particularly love the twig decorations. That's a workshop I should have looked out for and attended ;) I'm looking forward to being a little more stable next year and doing more local things :)

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  7. Jesh - All Seasons12 December 2018 at 08:56

    Hello Jill, Great presentation of how to make a Christmas tree from book pages. On someone's blog I have seen it from music paper - also beautiful.
    But I love how you make the little wooden tree and stat -
    so simple, but so cute! Great to see how you make the preparations
    for Christmas such a feast and many thanks for sharing it
    with us at All Seasons!
    Junieper/Jesh

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  8. I like your DIYs for Christmas. I think the last time I made a Christmas tree out of books/paper was too long ago to say! LOL. Normally I don't do Christmas DIYs but this year I made 2 scenes in jars. I enjoyed it but will need to find a better way to tack my stickers to glass in future.

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