Upcycle Old Books Into Pretty Daffodil Garland With A Simple DIY

Calling all book lovers! If you have old or damaged books lying around your home, don't throw them out. Instead try this clever hack for turning old books into beautiful home decor. With just a few torn out pages, a pair of scissors, some glue, a string, and some felt, you can craft a bookish daffodil garland perfect for decorating a bookshelf or adding some flair to your home library.

Even without a surplus of old books lying around your house, this is an affordable craft with easy-to-source materials. Felt and glue can be purchased from the dollar store, and old books, if you don't already have them, can easily be picked up at your local thrift store. There are also plenty of ways to customize this DIY by switching up the type of flowers, adding glitter or paint, or adding special flourishes such as beads or small felt butterflies and bees.

To get started on this craft, rip out a few pages from your book of choice. You will need one page per flower. At this stage, you can also start cutting out little circles of felt, again cutting one per flower. These felt circles will serve as the cup or 'trumpet' part of your daffodil, so use yellow if you're going for realism.

Now, cut each page of your book into a square. The size of your square is a rough indicator of how large the flower will be, so keep that in mind. Next, fold your square in half diagonally, leaving you with a triangle shape. Then, fold that triangle shape in half, leaving you with an even smaller triangle. For the final fold, fold two sides of your triangle inward so they overlap in the middle — the shape should slightly resemble a bouquet wrapper.

Now, grab your scissors and cut in a slightly rounded edge around the larger end of your folded paper. Then, cut the pointed tip off to leave a small hole in the center of your flower. From here, you can unfold your paper to reveal the flower shape. Zhuzh up your folds a little to give the flower a 3D look. Then, cut a slit that runs from the edge to the middle of your felt circles. Fold the felt over itself along the cut to make a slight cone shape, then glue the felt to the center of your paper flower. All that's left to do now is punch holes in each of your flowers and run your string through.

If you love the idea of a book page garland but flowers aren't your style, there are several other shapes you can make using the same basic tools. To fully commit to the book theme, you can use old book pages and some colored construction paper to make miniature versions of your favorite novels. Or opt for more basic shapes such as stars, fans, or circles.

Another fun idea is to make seasonal garlands. For example, you can use the old book pages to cut out tiny hearts for Valentine's day. If you want to take this concept a step further, choose an old romance novel to really lean into the holiday. Other seasonal ideas include leaves for fall, ghosts for Halloween, and snowflakes for winter or Christmas. If you're feeling ambitious, you can even cut out little bunny heads and chicks for a charming Easter garland DIY using a few basic materials. To add some visual interest, use colored paper or cutouts from magazines in between your book page cutouts to help the garland pop.