Something Different

 This year I have been finding there are many ideas for wreaths - yarn wreaths, felt flowers, burlap (which you can see Faith's here), and the list can go on and on! (If you missed my 'Noel' wreath, you can see that here). 

When it came to my front door this year though, I decided to forgo the wreath and do something different. What that was going to be, I didn't know. 

Then I found this idea on Pinterest! 

via

 I love the idea of reusing old books that are just going to go to Value Village or dare I say it...the garbage. (There should be a rule against throwing books in the garbage)

  I headed downstairs to our cardboard box stash and grabbed an old book that was headed for the thrift store. 

 Other supplies that I gathered was a glue stick, a pencil, a craft knife, Modge Podge, and heavy duty glue (I used a multipurpose glue. Hot glue would also work). 

  

I drew a star (not perfectly) on the cardboard and cut it out with my handy-dandy craft knife. I then set to cutting pages out of the book. Then out came one of my favourite craft items right now - Modge Podge. THE best.

Once it was covered, I started rolling the pages around the pencil. I gave the page a bit of glue at the beginning and then glued it at the end. I found it was easier to roll when it was glued together at the beginning. 

 I'm not going to lie. This craft is very tedious. It's not hard. Just takes a long time. So after a couple of episodes of Ellen later (I watch all my TV online so I watch them one after another. Anybody else blown away by all the gifts that her audience is getting in her 12 Days of Giveaways?? Unreal.)...I had enough paper rolls to start attaching everything to the star. 

   

Some rolls are attached to the back of the star to give it some definition before working on the front. 

  

I just kept gluing the rolls on top of each other. And a few more episodes of Ellen, a Michael Buble Christmas special, and some HGTV shows over a span of two days (crafts take longer when you have a part-time job, plus taking care of your baby who is teething), this is what I had:

Bea-u-tiful! Not finished yet though. I gave the star a coat of Modge Podge to seal it and to give it a little shine (make sure you get the satin kind if you want a sheen). I then found a little silver ornament and attached it to the top with a bit of wire. A ribbon was glued to the back and voila: 

 

 A different type of door decoration for Christmas! The neat thing about this star is that it could be used all-year round! If you live in the States, you could dress it up for the Fourth of July, attach shells for the summer, flowers and faux bird eggs for spring...the possibilities are endless! 

  I know that this craft breaks my "nice and easy" thing I have going on, but it was too cute to pass up. Plus, beside the multipurpose glue that was $1, this craft was free. That's what my frugal self likes to hear.

 Has anybody else done a craft that seemed like there was no ending in sight? What about front door decorations? Have you put something up instead of the usual wreath? 

 Linked up to Bower Power's 12 Days of Christmas!