Vintage Book Ornaments

This simple yet very sweet ornament tutorial makes the perfect gift for book lovers in your life! Whether you need a set for a hostess gift, a single ornament to adorn a package or gift bag, or crave something unique for your own tree, you’re going to want to save this post. These vintage book ornaments can be made in a night. So pour your favorite beverage, put on a good movie or binge-worthy show and get ready to make them with me!

A while ago, I had found this listing for vintage book paper and thought – yes! I’ll make a ton of things with these! But then I got a bit intimidated as I’m not the best paper crafter. These ornaments are pretty forgiving and fun to make! There’s no precision needed. Here’s the listing for the book paper.

What They Are:

The end result of this project will leave you with seriously sweet vintage looking Christmas Tree ornaments. They match any color or theme of decorations. You can use them on your tree, on indoor wreaths, garlands, or hang them from your light fixtures! Personally I have them on my tree but I plan to make more than use them throughout the house. They’re that fun!

What You Need to Make Vintage Book Ornaments:

• Mod Podge
• Small Craft/Art Paint Brush
• Vintage book pages
• Spare Ornaments
• Ribbon (Preferably Velvet)

Okay now that we have our list of materials, let’s make some notes about them. You could use plain white glue but I prefer modge podge and the way it works. It dries clear and gives you time to work. You want a paint brush that isn’t too big for your ornament but also makes the job easy. A teeny tiny brush won’t work. I always end up buying cheap ornaments for crafts like this but you could reuse ones that you have tired of, find on market place, or buy at a craft or dollar store. For the ribbon, honestly use what works with your current decor. I like a thin velvet ribbon personally but you can use what you like here.

Vintage Book Ornament Tutorial

You’ll want to set up a bit of space to work. You can totally do this on your coffee table or counter. Heck you can even do this on your carper or floor, I’d just put something down to protect it. Another note, when I make these, I set up a clothes line or something similar for them to hang dry. You could pop the top off of your ornaments and use small dial rods or chop sticks to set them upside upon for drying. Just make your plan for drying them before you crack open the Mod Podge.

Start by selecting your paper. My order came from a few different books, of various ages, texture, color, etc. So I picked some of the pages that I wanted to use. Then, you’ll tear this into strips and pieces. A variety of sizes and shapes helps to ensure you have full coverage without too much paper on the ornament.

Using your brush, apply some Mod Podge to your ornament directly. Press a bit of paper to the same spot. Then coat the paper with more. You’ll want to coat but not soak the pieces of paper. Repeat this process until the ornament is covered in paper. You may need to apply more Mod Podge as you work around your ornament. The trick is to make sure you get everything coated and sticking to the ornament so that it all stays in place as it dries.

Allow your ornament to fully dry before handling. Touching it too soon can pull pieces of paper off or make finger prints in the glue. Once it’s dry, you can tie your ornament to it in a bow. I used the string that came with the ornaments but this year I plan to go back and use more ribbon as my method for hanging them too.

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