Believe it or not, I'm preparing slowly for Thanksgiving. Every other year, I host my husband's family. That's about 35 people. The decorating starts early with my fall decor and I slowly add Thanksgiving themed pieces as we get closer. Starting early allows me time to concentrate on housecleaning and cooking as the day gets closer.
Recently I made this book page "charger" for one of my ironstone platters. My original thought was to use it as a centerpiece but I liked the look of it hanging on the mirror better.
If you've never made a book page wreath, it's pretty simple. A great project to do while watching tv, especially if you're making a large one.
First, you'll need:
- an old book (Reader's Digests are great for this project)
- a stapler
- cardboard (I used an old file folder)
- glue (either white glue or a glue gun)
Begin by ripping out the pages. I used 30 for this project.
Once you have your pages out, begin making the cone shapes. The easiest way to get the right look is to turn the page upside down in front of you, lay your hand (palm up) on the upper right corner, grab the right side and roll your hand to the left. You can tweak it to line the edges up if you want.
Once the page is rolled into the cone shape, staple it a couple of inches from the bottom. Don't worry if it creased near the bottom. The top is what you want to remain uncreased.
Continue rolling and stapling until you have 30 pages.
Cut your cardboard the size of your platter, roughly. It doesn't have to be exact. Then, begin gluing your pages around the edge of the cardboard. You'll want to adhere the pages near the stapled area to the outer edge of your cardboard oval. You can lay them out to get a feel for the shape. Only the open end of the book page will be seen so it's okay if they overlap and aren't glued perfectly. It will take a little over half of your pages for this layer.
If you're using white glue, you'll want to let this layer dry before adding the next one. I placed the platter and a pot on top of mine to press it down until the glue was set. Once it's dry, repeat gluing the book pages for the next layer, only this time you will glue them closer to the center of the cardboard. This helps create the cozy nest your platter will go in when finished.
Now, if you want to use this as a charger for your platter, you're done! Add your platter to the center and begin decorating. If you want it to hang, continue with the instructions below.
This may get a little tricky but stick with me. To hang, use a normal wire plate hanger on your platter. Loop a paperclip through the hanger where the nail would usually sit. You're going to slip the paperclip through a hole in the charger so that you can hang it. To line up where the hole in the charger should be, place your platter on the charger, feel for the spot where the paperclip hits the book pages and then mark it. This is where you'll punch your hole. I had to punch holes through both layers of the book pages and some of the cardboard. After you've punch the holes, lay the platter back on the charger and put the paperclip through the hole.
Here's the paperclip once it was slipped through the hole.
I chose jute to hang mine from. For my mirror, I took 2 yards of jute, double knotted the ends, then slipped it through the paperclip. Remember this is actually attached to the plate hanger on the platter so it will hold the weight. The charger is simply hanging between the platter and the jute.
Now find a place to hang it!
I embellished my platter with this little garland made from jute and metal letters found in the scrapbooking area of the craft store. I just taped the garland to the back of the platter with washi tape.
I added a little fall decor to the table below as well.
Do you host Thanksgiving at your house?
Thanks for stopping by and God bless!
Angie
I'd be super excited if you wanted to add this to Pinterest! Click the Pin button on the sidebar at the top! Thanks so much!
