This project started one afternoon when I saw the paper apple sculpture on Cheeky Magpie so I called over my coworker and said, we can try this!

Using our 15 minute break and loosely following the directions at Cheeky Magpie, we split a paperback book in half, each taking one piece. Since we would be removing the paperback’s cover, we used it to make our template. Because we were using scissors (no utility knives at work), I traced the template on the page then picked up and cut several pages at a time, repeating the process until I had an apple. It made for some rough edges that I trimmed up, but I was okay with the unevenness, too. Using markers, not paint, we decorated the edge of our pages. We fetched some twigs from the landscaping and glued those in, then used a binder clips to help pull the pages around the backside to make it 3D.

Then, I left it in my inbox for a few days. But it is big and takes up a little too much room so I had to bring it home. In the car ride home, my stem broke off and not being a fan of knick-knacks, I decided I needed to do something more with this sculpture. I bought a $2 canvas (Big Lots rocks for cheap canvas), painted it red and glued on the paperback apple sculpture and hung it on the wall near my kitchen.

Liking simple designs, I did not add anything else to the canvas, but you certainly could dress it up with paper punched from a paperback book with the edges slightly painted. Or if you are skilled at painting words freehand, you could position the sculpture in a different spot and add a word like BIG above the apple (get it?! *cymbol crash*)

Inexpensive art that you could make yourself in any design you can imagine!