Crafty and Bookish Holiday Displays

Get out the scissors and tape! Time for some seasonal fun.

'Tis the season...for seasonal displays! Take inspiration from these bookish creations.

LEFT: The Carlisle Library located in Carlisle, UK, created this fun tree using rolled-up book pages. To get its perfect shape, librarians attached the pages to a real Christmas tree underneath.

 

RIGHT: This adorable "Polar Express" train is featured by Kierste on her website, Old Salt Farm. Kierste constructed the train for her church Christmas party and fashioned North Pole signs to accompany it.

 

ABOVE: The children's department of Seaford (NY) Public Library created holiday-themed obstacle courses to encourage patrons to wander the book stacks.


BELOW:  The Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library in Indiana hosted a gingerbread-building contest and decorated the shelves and book return bin with gingerbread motifs to match.

 


RIGHT: Shawano County (WI) Library staff created this winter wonderland book display. The snowy white trees, ice skates, sled, and logs inspire patrons to warm up by the fire with their favorite book. 

 

ABOVE: The Delaware County (OH) Library District Library created this fun, festive book tree out of red and green books from its Friends of the Library book sale collection. They built the tree by stacking books of comparable size in a menorah on a table made of bookscircle until a tree shape was formed. Staff topped the tree with a holiday book and wrapped the books in strands of holiday lights. Follow the Flickr account.

RIGHT: Courtney Lewis and her students from Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, PA, created this elaborate fireplace out of bound periodicals and reader's guides. The mantle is made of foam wrapped in red felt, while books wrapped in brown paper and paper flames decorate the hearth. Finishing touch: a big red bow and a beautiful menorah prominently displayed in the center. Read more about the display on Lewis's blog.

BELOW LEFT: Sonja Schulz and her student assistants from Nacogdoches (TX) High School created this clever snowman on their reference wall by facing books pages-side-out. They made the hat from black books and crafted buttons, arms, and a face out of paper. A tulle scarf completes Frosty's look. Follow Schultz on Twitter.

BELOW RIGHT: Kerry Ann Morgan from the North Orange Branch Library in Apopka, FL, made this adorable snowman by wrapping hardbound and paperback books along with VHS tapes in white, recycled flyers and copy paper. She added buttons, stick arms, a scarf, and made a hat from foam sheets found in the craft supplies room.  Follow Morgan on Twitter.

 

BELOW: My library at North Buncombe High School in Weaverville, NC, makes these Christmas trees by folding magazines. Just take the corner of the page, fold it to the center, and fold a second time if you want to make a skinnier triangle; fold up the bottom and you are done. Repeat with each page until the entire magazine is transformed into triangles. Glue two magazines back to back to make a fuller tree. For shorter trees, use a small magazine like Readers Digest. Decorate with buttons, ribbons, and bows; spray paint optional.

magazine mini trees

 

RIGHT:   Stephanie Bowers-Buckridge from the Dinuba (CA) Branch Library created this reindeer and snowman by stacking white and brown books. With construction paper, cardboard, felt, and googly eyes, she created this charming display.

 

BELOW LEFT AND RIGHT: Staff at the McAllen (TX) Public Library decorated the end caps of their shelves to look like presents, snowmen, penguins, and polar bears (not pictured). For the presents, they wrapped the caps in wrapping paper and decorated with ribbon and bows. The snowman and penguin were made out of butcher paper, and the faces and features cut out freehand by an assistant. Check out the library Flickr.

 

BELOW LEFT: Kathy Ransom, artist and owner of the popular website ADelightsomeLife, shares this beautiful book wreath tutorial that can add whimsy to any library display. Check out the book wreath tutorial, along with a book garland tutorial. BELOW RIGHT: Kerri Smith from Washington High School Library in Sioux Falls, SD, made this classic holly wreath sign out of red and green paper. She and students cut and bent the paper leaves to give it a more realistic look and added red paper berries. Find more of their library displays on their website.


Katie Darty is a librarian at North Buscombe High School in Weaverville, NC. 

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Frances Wildsmith

What great holiday ideas! So clever!!

Posted : Dec 07, 2017 03:45


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