Fall DIY Series – Week 5 Book Page Garland

Kristi Bissell

6 years ago

Welcome to Week 5. I am having so much fun with this fall DIY series and I hope y’all are too. This next one is one of my all-time favorites. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Fall Book Page Garland

If you want to learn how to make a book page garland, follow along. This tutorial is one of my all-time favorite DIYs and, also, one that I get a lot of requests for.

I initially made this a couple of years ago to add some interest to my mantel for the fall season. I like adding dimension and texture to any space I’m styling and this seemed like a perfect addition. In fact, I loved how it turned out so much, I never put it away. Okay, storing it without damaging it did prove to be a challenge so leaving it up seemed like the wisest and easiest decisions. Seriously though, it has carried me from season to season as I found different areas of my home to display it.

AND, the best thing about this garland is that it will prove to be one of the easiest DIYs you’ve ever done. It does take a little time but as you’re creating it, you’ll soon see for yourself, it’s worth being patient for.

SUPPLY LIST

3-5 leaves from your yard (or your neighbor’s) to use as templates
Jute string
50-100 book pages (we’ll talk more about this later)
3-5 pieces of copy paper
Hot glue gun and glue
scissors
pencil

TEMPLATE

When you gather your leaves for your template, look for ones with different shapes like mine above. The leaves I chose from left to right are hydrangea, acorn and magnolia. Choose ones with varying shapes. I had hoped to do a downloadable printable for you all, but then I realized you have all the templates you need right out your front door. This way yours will be one-of-a-kind.

Ready To Cut

Next, fold your copy paper in half vertically. Take one of your leaves and center it on the fold of the paper and trace around one side and cut the half. This saves you from having to cut out both sides.

When you’re done,

you should have three templates like the ones pictured above.

ASSEMBLE

Now, this is the step in the project that will determine how many book pages you will need. It’s entirely up to you. The garland that I made for my mantle is approximately 70 inches long. I used roughly 100 book pages to make my leaves. You will have one leaf per page. Measure your jute string to the length desired and cut. Make sure you have a large work space so you can lay the string out to its full length. You can always add leaves, too, after you hang it up to give it a fuller look.

This next step is the one that takes the most time, cutting out your leaves. Take one of your templates and draw around it on one book page. To save time, I actually stacked about 10 pages and cut them out all together. I like using old books and the pages seems to be more fragile and easier to cut. Keep an eye out at your local garage sales and thrift stores. You can usually pick up old books for next to nothing.

Heat Up The Glue

Once your leaves are cut, this is when you’ll start laying them out. At this point, make sure you’ve remembered to plug in your glue gun because if you’re like me, you reach for it when you need it and it’s stone cold. You can also see from the looks of my glue gun that it gets a lot of use.

The photo is pretty self-explanatory,

but literally glue your leaves all the way down the length of your jute string.

Your garland should eventually start to look like this. If you want to go for a fuller garland, just layer several leaves on top of each other.

HANG FOR A BETTER VIEW

Now is also a great time, after you get 20 or so leaves glued to your string, to actually hang it where you will put it once the project is finished. This gives you an idea of how full you will want it in the end. I have, also, kept it hanging during the gluing stage to get a better perspective of how the finished project will look. Just grab yourself an extension cord if your glue gun doesn’t reach far enough.

Like I said, don’t be afraid to layer the leaves on top of each other for a fuller garland. Just keep adding them until you achieve your desired look. In the photo above, you can see that I even glued leaves to the backs of each other for a longer length. I guarantee once you hang it, you will keep adding leaves. This is the best way to see where you need to fill in.

So whether you’re wanting a shorter garland like this…