Book Page Mushrooms and a Summer Mantel

With the weather finally warming up, it was a good time to change up my mantel from late spring to early summer. I wanted to make it summery  and creative feeling. I thought making book page mushrooms would be a fun way to be able to get a little crafty and give it a fresh look. Fungi are a fun, trending decor item that’s up and coming! They were easy to make from books from the dollar store (you can also use thrift store  or upcycle old books.). These would be so cute for a woodland party too and with only 7 books, it was less than $10!  There is a template at the end of the post you can grab to make your own! You can also watch a video of the project on the JenniferRizzoTV video player and see an upclose look at the mantel.

To make these cute paper mushrooms from  book pages  you’ll need old books (or books from the dollar store), scissors or a craft knife, hot glue and a pencil.

To make the book page mushrooms, start by removing the back and cover of the paper back books. On the front cover, use a pencil to trace half of the mushroom image onto the book (use the template below as a guide!), drawing it from the spine of the book.

Once the image is traced, make sure to open the book and “break” the spine of the  book. This will help your book page mushroom form a more circular shape later. Use a craft knife or scissors to cut around the traced mushroom shape, removing the excess paper as you go (save the scraps for another project later like this paper mache bowl!). If you use a craft knife, be careful to keep fingers and hands out of the way then cutting. This does make a bit of a mess with paper shreds and shavings, so have a broom handy!

Once your mushroom is cut out of your paperback book,  use the hot glue to glue the front page to the back page, pressing them together to create a complete loop.

If your book page mushroom has any big gaps between the pages, bend the paper book pages from the center to spread them out more easily.

To make a “gilled” mushroom, glue the ends of every other page together. Once you go around the glue them all, take the alternate pages and place a drop of glue in the center. This is also a good trick to use if your book pages are wonky and won’t spread out evenly.

I styled them on my mantel with a vintage cabin in the woods oil painting, and my green velvet covered books. It feels so fresh and fun for a summer mantel!

Different sizes and shapes make for an interesting statement!

I used different sized books and even cut one in half to create the different height book page mushrooms.

Here is the template with the mushroom patterns so you can make your own.

If you love paper crafts, check out how to make this cut paper still life painting.