Book Page Balls

I like free crafts, that's why I always try to find a simple solution and try to avoid buying tools or materials that I only use for a one time project.

These decorative balls are made from all recycled materials - ok except the glue...

and with basic tools everyone already have.

enjoy!

Materials needed:

1 old, uninteresting book you don't mind to destroy

plastic christmas balls of any diameter (the diameter affects of course the size of your book page ball )

instead you could use styrofoam balls

Tools needed:

scissors

pen or pencil

any round object with a width around 4cm ( like a shot glass for example)

glue gun

take as many book pages as you can easily cut with your scissors ( around 6 pages in my case)

stack them and trace the edge of your shot glass with a pen on the top page.

hold all the pages with a steady grip and start cutting a scalloped edge inside the traced circles.

- i doesn't have to be pretty, just somewhat nicely round edged ( see the pictures )

You'll end up with 6 circles with a scalloped edge at the time ( you cut the pages stacked - right?)

It is really quick worked and in no time you'll have a big amount of these little handcut circles :)

For one book page ball you'll need about 1,5 cm stacked circles

NOTE: if you're into scrapbooking and you already have a circle punch with scalloped edge - use it!

In my case I just wanted to avoid to buy such a tool that I probably never will use again...

Now take one of your beautifully shaped circles,

place the flat side of a pen or pencil in the middle of it and fold the circle downwards around

check the pictures if my description doesn't do the trick.

the folding should be quick and doesn't have to be pretty.

NOTE: only fold one single circle and go on to the next step - the glueing!

after folding you'll end up with a small flat spot on the circle - that is where the glueing happens...

let the circle stay on the top of the pen and add a small drop of hot glue to it.

now gently press it onto the surface of a christmas ball with the help of the pen.

take the next circle, fold it, glue it and so on...

place the folded circles very narrow next to each other to cover the whole ball.

NOTE: my super ancient glue gun gets a little to hot sometimes, so that the glue starts to melt the plastic ornament -the solution is easy, just unplug it here and there, and work with the remaining heat, that is still hot enough to melt the glue but not the plastic

when the whole ball is covered,

search for holes in the book page - covering

and fill them with the same techinque.

get rid of all the loose hot glue.

Congratulations! You just finished your first book page ball!

Display and admire!

Now you are the proud owner of a totally useless yet decorative book page ball!

NOTE: don't let the cat get them!