Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back (or welcome, if you’re new here!) to my blog! 😃
I’m so happy to be participating in BetsyJane’s blog tour today. I would really recommend checking out her blog, where she shares an assortment of different posts! I get very excited when I see a new post of hers in my WordPress reader, and they’re always fun to read!
Sooo…with Christmas quickly approaching, I thought that I would share a fun Christmas-themed post for today! I also thought that this post should incorporate something with books (that word is in my blog’s name, after all) so I decided that a Christmas tree made of books would be just the thing!
Just a bit ago, my sister and I made a book tree (you may have seen it if you’ve read November’s monthly wrap-up) and I really like how it looks!
I have seen pictures of book trees like this on Instagram and such, but I always thought that they looked really complicated. Turns out, they’re actually not. So, today I’ll be walking y’all through how to make one of your own.
The materials you’ll need are…lots of books! (I know, who would have guessed? 😄) Besides that, though, you may want a topper, such as a star. You can also use some ornaments or other decorations to decorate, however, these are optional and I didn’t end up decorating my tree.
You’re going to start by getting all of the books you will be using for your book tree. I used about seventy-five, but the number of books you’ll need will vary depending on the size of the books, and how big your tree will end up. My tree is a bit more than three feet tall, excluding the star.
Be sure to use books you know you won’t be reading in the near future. You don’t want to take the tree down, because the next book on your TBR is at the bottom!
Once you have taken down all the books, sort them into stacks according to size and thickness. Try your best to do this, but it’s okay if they are slightly varying in size, as no two books will be totally identical.
When you have sorted out all of your books, you will begin building the tree. Use the three biggest books you have to create a triangle as shown. In this example, I used three “Taste of Home” cookbooks that are all approximately the same size.
You can either make the tree with the book spines showing, or with the pages facing outwards. I made mine with the spines showing, as to showcase different books. I think that making it with the pages outward would make a more uniform and simple-looking tree, which would probably look better decorated than with spines showing, but if the spines are facing outward, it’ll look more colorful. It really just depends on the look you are going for.
Take your next three books, which are slightly smaller than the previous ones, and make a new triangle, as shown above, as if rotating the previous triangle by 180 degrees. For this tree, you will continue in this pattern of rotating the center triangle 180 degrees.
Keep on working in this manner, gradually reducing the size of your books.
If you must, you can use two books for one layer, as shown. Just be sure that these two books equal the thickness of the other two in this triangle of the layer.
When you are almost done, and the tree is about the height you desire, take a larger book, and set it on top of the triangle, as shown in the image above.
Layer a few more books atop this one, shifting them slightly as shown. Continue stacking a few more books, decreasing the size gradually.
Finish off with the smallest book. Top with a star, if you desire. I made an origami star, and it’s propped up against a candle on top of my tree.
And, you are finished! You now have a lovely book tree!
Thank you for reading my post today! Make sure you go look at Corrie’s blog tomorrow because she will be posting the second post in this blog tour! Also, don’t forget to check out BetsyJane’s blog, poppyseeds!
How did you like today’s post? Do you have a book obsession, too? Will you be trying this out? How did it go? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
I hope everyone has a lovely week! I may have a bonus post this week, but if not, I will see y’all on Monday! Bye until then!
P.S. Do you like my new snowflake separators and the new footer?
Books and Hooks 