A Christmas Tree from paperback

This was a unique Christmas Tree made from a paperback book. Its adds a shimmering touch to the mantel. Found this in a Magazine and decided to give it a try. This craft was by Suzonne Stirling.

Followed the instructions from the book. 1) Tear off the front and back covers of a paperback book, leaving the binding intact. 2)Take the top of corner of a page and fold it down to meet the binding. 3) Then fold the same age down to meet the binding again. 4) Turn up the resulting triangle at the bottom of the page so that it is even with the bottom of the book. Make the same three folds (steps 2,3,4) on the next pages. Repeat the folds on every page until the tree looks generously proportioned - about 150 pages. (I had only 90 pages or so). To make things easier clip folded pages together as you go.

Glue first and last pages together so the tree fans around and stands on its own. To decorate you actually need to spray paint with silver color , but I decided to use a silver color ribbon and used a glue gun to stick it on the tree and some sticker beads to decorate the tree. My Son helped me fold some pages in a book and my daughter (4 1/2 yrs old) helped me put the sticker beads on the tree.

I tried this out first with Macy's coupon booklet (the picture to your right) which you get many during the holiday season. Then I tried out from a magazine (family circle) with has at least 80 - 100 pages.

I kept both this tree on the mantel (above the fire place) and then in the middle arranged all the greeting cards we received this year for Christmas and New Year !


Turned out to be a nice decoration for this year ! IF anybody wants to try this out and want clear instructions, I will be very happy to teach them !

A Gift/card holder designed for teachers

Its his time of the year where I usually make unique gifts for my kids teachers (one for my son's teacher and 3 for my daughter's teachers). Since our family was going through a season of flu and all taking turns in falling sick, I could not paint or craft anything for them. Due to lack of time, decided to gift them a gift card so they can use it anytime in buying what they want. Did not want to keep it very simple , so I used my creativity in packing the gift card.

Gift card holder Jar: Asked the kids to choose a jar from the craft store. My Son chose penguin jar and my daughter chose the snowman jar. I bought gift card holder which can fit inside the jar and placed the gift card. I thought surrounding the gift card I wanted to fill something. So I thought of a wonderful idea of filling the jar with nice Christmas quotes and New year quotes which they can read during the holidays.

Instead of printing them on plain white paper, I bought Christmas card stock paper. They had different designs. Printed about 9 nice quotes or sayings on 2 different prints of paper. Cut them into 9 strips, and used a crimping tool to create a texture to the paper. Then the kids rolled them and placed them inside the jar. I made the kids roll them so they can be a part of it too !

Quotes/Sayings which I used are...
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There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved.
It is God's finger on man's shoulder.
~Charles Morgan.
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From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another
The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.
~Emily Matthews
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The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:
the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
~Burton Hillis
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May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown
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Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
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Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on,
with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
~Hal Borland
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For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~Author Unknown
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The color of springtime is in the flowers,
but the color of winter is in the imagination.
~Terri Guillemets
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Winter is the time for comfort,
for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and
for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.
~Edith Sitwell
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Very simple craft but it was indeed very much appreciated by all the teachers ! They just loved reading all the quotes they said.