It's Christmas Eve!

And it is snowing here! It's absolutely beautiful. We will have a white Christmas. I am so excited! Are you?

I meant to post this earlier, to give you more time to make one of your own, but this could still be a potential craft for Christmas Eve (you still have a few shopping hours left).

Remember my pumpkins at Thanksgiving made from old books? Well, I discovered how to make a Christmas tree from an old book. And they go much faster than the pumpkins. Aren't they pretty?

Here are the instructions:
Once again, we start with an old Harlequin romance. The Highwayman and the Lady are about to get in the holiday spirit.

 

Remove the cover and split into sections of about 50 pages. You can typically get at least two trees out of one of these books. Fold the first page down as shown below. I recommend using a bone folder to get a nice sharp crease.

Now fold up the bottom corner to meet the top corner. If you are working with a taller book, you may need to overlap this bottom fold a bit (see sample pics toward the end of the post).

Now fold the page down again to meet the binding of the book.

Continue on with the rest of the pages. As you go along, it will start to look like this. 

You should end up with two halves, approximately 50 pages or so each.

Now glue the two bindings together. Ignore the rubber cement in the back. I found that hot glue worked better.

And here are the two pieces rejoined.

Now spray on some glitter--I used gold, silver or green but there are some gorgeous glitter sprays out there. Turquoise or bright pink would be beautiful.

Trim your trees with a few accessories or just go for a bare tree. They are pretty plain as well.

I did make a couple of trees with old magazines and larger books to give me a little variety in size. I mentioned above you might need to fold up the bottom flap farther for a taller book. Here is a sample of those folds (and yes that is an old computer programming manual--great way to recycle).

And there you have it. The middle tree in this picture was made from a Martha Stewart Living Magazine. I like the colors the photos added.

I'm giving these out at the family Christmas Eve party. They were easy, inexpensive and I think they turned out really pretty.

And on that note, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May it be full of family, friends, fun and fond memories!