adventures in homemaking :: let's make a hymn book wreath!

I have a bit of an obsession.

Wreaths.

I will go so far to say that a room without a wreath is like a day without a sunrise. Chips without salsa. Sundays without afternoon naps.

When a room feels off, I add a wreath. It's what I do. Call me Aretha. My witty Preacher Man hubby does. When the wreath-making-mood strikes, Aretha doesn't fight it. She respects the hankering and gets to work. *grin* Turning a blind eye for a few moments to the laundry pile and crumbs on the kitchen floor, I fire up the glue gun and create the afternoon away. It's relaxing and fun and voilà there's something lovely to hang on my wall or a door after an hour or two of keeping my hands busy.

My absolute favorite wreath is my hymn book wreath! I whipped it up a few years ago after seeing a big box filled with retired Lutheran Hymnals at our church. What a shame to let those wonderful hymnals live a life on dusty shelf! I wanted to give one a new life.

So this is what I did ::

1. Gathered materials :: hymnal, glue gun, 14 inch straw wreath form

2. Carefully tore out the hymn pages

3. Rolled each page and then stapled (or hot glued) it into a cone shape

4. Hummed some hymns, belted out others.

5. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I believe I used 150+ hymn page cones for my wreath. I piled them all into a big basket while I worked.

6. Now for the fun part! Beginning at the back of the wreath, I hot glued the back row on, cone by cone, placing them very close together.

7. Then I flipped the wreath over and began the 2nd row, starting as close to the back row as possible. I continued this pattern for four more rows, making my way to the center, until the entire straw wreath form was completely covered in cones.

8. Done!! I hung that beauty right up. I couldn't stop looking at it and smiling. It's wonderful. And huge! 30 inches of hymn page loveliness.

My hymnal page wreath moves from room to room throughout the year. I can't stop, won't stop loving it.

I think you should make one, too, friends! Find an unused old hymnal and get to work. I promise you will love it, too.

Let those pages sing again!