Making Christmas Trees From Books



On the principle that you can never have too many Christmas trees, here's a tree made out of a discarded book.  These are all over blog land and Pinterest;  even Martha has a few versions.  This book project requires no page cutting, just folding, so it's lots easier and much less messy than my book pumpkins!  

I made mine from a discarded book, but you can use a phone book, a substantial magazine (like Martha's or Real Simple - they have a rigid spine so the book won't flop over) or even part of a book.

Start by removing the covers from your book.  If  using part of a book, remove the spine, count how many pages you want to use and cut down the spine to separate them from the rest of the book.

Now, start folding:

Now you need to get rid of the little triangle that hangs down.  Score it against the book, then flip it inside so the bottom of the page has a straight edge.



See the little tip flipped inside?

Here's how a finished page looks:

Once all your pages are folded, open the book and  press the pages open so the tree fans out nicely.  I glued the first and last  page so it would stay open.

There are several options for coloring - spray paint, ink each page similar to the pumpkin technique or  apply glitter.  I don't use much glitter, but if any occasion calls for sparklies, it's Christmas!  I just ran a glue stick randomly over the folded edges and then sprinkled on some glitter.  You could also leave the pages uncolored or un-sparkled - the tree looks cool au natural as well.

I stuck a small ornament into the spine as a topper.  The "trunk" of my tree is a little bowl made by the best uncle in the world. 

Happy folding!