Thrift Store Books: Repurpose To Make This Christmas Ornament!

Maura White
by Maura White
8 Materials
$7
1 Hour
Easy

I am going to show you how to flip thrift store books into a really cute Christmas ornament! I love flipping items from the thrift store (such as how I redecorated my guest room with thrifted or hand me down furniture). Now I have many ideas on how to use thrift store books to make Christmas ornaments! I love using repurposed materials to give an old object new life!

Materials Needed To Make A Repurposed Thrift Store Book Ornament:



  • Thrift Store Books (in this case it is Mickey's Christmas Carol - you can buy this used on Amazon.) This isn't the exact same version as the one I found, but hopefully will work. I personally got mine for 10 cents at a local thrift store.
  • Gold Glitter Glue
  • Bakers Twine - 240 Yards 4 ply Cotton (Gold Metallic - Gold and Cream)
  • Glue Stick
  • Small plastic bathroom cup
  • Small wooden beads
  • Nail polish
  • White liquid glue


I got my version of Mickey's Christmas Carol from a local thrift shop. It probably cost me 10 cents! There was a fill a bag for a $1 deal - so I probably spent even less than 10 cents on this book!

  1. To make your ornament, find some text that you can use your small plastic bathroom cup as a round template to draw circles.


2. You will need 8 circles for each ornament. When you have them each cut out, fold them in half. Then glue the outer side.

Attach a second folded circle to the glued side. When it stretches out, it should look like the above image.

3. You will continue to place glue on the outside of each half circle, and attach an additional half circle onto the ornament. You will do this until all 8 of the cut out circles are glued together in this fashion.

I believe I have about 6 of the half circles glued together in the above image.

4. When all 8 circles have been glued together, it is time to get out your bakers twine and liquid white glue, and glue this in the seam where all 8 circles meet when glued. Leave enough twine to dangle at least 6" on one end and a 12" on the other end.

5. Then it is time to add some glitter glue to the edges of the pages all around the ornament. You may have to do this in sections while you let other sections dry. I added glitter glue in three different stages and let it dry before I added more to each of the edges.

6. For easy bead threading, you'll want to use some nailpolish on the ends of the baker's twine. That way it will be stiff enough for the bead to be threaded on.

7. Add just one bead to the 6" side and tie a knot as close as you can to the bead. Cut off the twine and add some more nail polish to the cut portion of the twine to avoid the ends from coming apart.

The one bead is now the bottom of the ornament.

8. For the top of the ornament, add nail polish to the end of the 12" tail. When that dries, thread on 3 beads. Then tie a knot as close as you can to the beads to create a loop to hang your ornament.

Now you have an ornament that has the text of a Christmas Classic. It will be fun to show this to friends and see if they can figure out which book this ornament came from!

Resources for this project:
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Maura White
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Doreen Kennedy Doreen Kennedy on Oct 07, 2023

    I love this idea. I cut up my old books and magazines for crafts and collage. I also donate books that I don’t use. My goodness, I see nothing wrong with using second hand books for crafts.

  • Maura White Maura White on Oct 28, 2023

    I love repurposing items that could be thrown away. It's a great way to keep one less thing out of the landfills!

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