Creative Library Displays

Tulips, poppies and blossoming trees are the main ingredients for this display. It is a sunny, happy collection of colours and shapes and the splashing birds around the birdbath give this display a central focus point.

The butterflies, birds and insects are humming in the trees, some birds are zooming in on a feeder or taking a break on a branch; spring is in the air.

 With all these colourful ingredients it isn’t difficult to create a seasonal display that sparkles with joy.

 What you need:

·          Tree trunks and branches,  I re-used the trunk and branches of the tree used in the CreativiTREE display;

        Instead of one big trunk in the middle of the display board, I created a tree on both  sides of the board with overhanging branches reaching each other in the middle. 

         Green illuminating wrapping paper – 3 rolls for the background and 2 for wrapping lots of display boxes

           Blossoms  (Google – Images) some enlarged to A3 and some reduced to A5 in size and laminated – you need a lot of them so start weeks in advance and cut in shape when you have a little extra time or take the laminated sheets home and let your children have a go.  

         Notice that I don’t cut them exactly, I more or less zig-zag around the shape of the flowers.

·          Poppy flowers (Google – Images) enlarged and reduced in size as above and laminated – same story: you need lots so start in advance.

·         Poppy seed pods (Google – Images) enlarged and reduced in size as above and laminated – cut in shape

·         Tulips- red and yellow (Google – Images) enlarged and reduced in size as above and laminated – cut in shape

·           Birdbath on pedestal – I made it from paper mache (strips of newspaper – wall paper paste – bowl – cover half the bowl – let it   dry – take it off and paint it).  A simpler solution, though not as spectacular, is an image of a birdbath on a pedestal.   Google – Images will help   you

·          Water drips – little prism beads (Spotlight)

·         NZ Birds like tuis, hammerheads, mynahs, pigeons, silver eyes etc. (Google – Images) laminated – cut in shape

·         Water in birdbath – off-cuts from the laminating machine, preferably a bit wrinkled to give a ‘wave’ effect, you can also use transparent plastic.

·           Butterflies – I used images from the book: ‘Butterfly’ by Thomas  Marent with spectacular photos of  butterflies and caterpillars but alternatively you can use Google – Images – cut in shape. I bought 3  large colourful paper maché butterflies at the Two dollar Shop (3 dollar each) for a 3D effect

·            Insects   – bag full of small plastic insects at the Two dollar shop

·           Title – simple black letters on a white background stapled to a background photo of dozens of whitish butterflies from the book mentioned above. Google Images will be a good alternative – laminated and cut in shape

·         Christmas lights 

·         Lots of small boxes to display not only books but to paste flowers, birds or butterflies on to create depth in the display  

What to do:

·         Staple the birdbath with pedestal to the middle of the board – measure the centre

·         Staple the wrapping paper to the board and wrap it carefully around the birdbath to make sure you don’t see the stapled edges of the bath. If you use an image of a birdbath staple the wrapping paper first and then attach the birdbath

·           Staple the tree trunk and branches to the board. Don’t be too fussy about the shape at first – just make sure it all fits and then cut the trunk in shape I used one A4 piece of trunk from Google –Images and multiplied it lots of times to create the whole tree.

       Staple the title with butterfly background to the board                                                                            

·           Staple the blossoms to the branches. Use the bigger ones closer to the tree and on the lower branches, the middle size in the middle of the branches and halfway up the tree and use the smaller ones for the top and ends of the branches to create a nice perspective.

·         Drape the Christmas lights around the branches. I used off-cuts of the trunk to staple the electric wire to the tree so that it blends in – let the laminated pieces bulge a bit to give the wire ‘space’. Step back and 'squint' your eyes to check if the lights are evenly distributed

·          Staple the tulips, poppies and poppy seed heads to the board. I situated the poppies and poppy seed heads around the birdbath, the red tulips with poppy seed heads more to the left and the yellow tulips with poppy seed heads to the right – let them overlap a bit to create a natural grow feeling

·         Cover the boxes with the green wrapping paper. Decide which ones go horizontal and which ones upright. Paste the flowers or insects to the boxes with double sided tape and place the boxes in front of the display board. Notice that the flowers stick out of some of the boxes!

·           Arrange the tuis and bathing birds around the birdbath

·           Dress-up the birdbath with water, fallen blossom and insects and use the glue gun to glue the water beads to the board and bath to simulate splashing water

·           Staple the rest of the butterflies, birds and insects to the board. I used the glue gun to attach the plastic insects to the board

·          The 20 cm wide paper-mache butterflies I bought came on a metal wire and with the help of a table top I bent the wires in a U-form and taped them with black tape above each other to the side of the display board. They stick out and that makes them a real eye catcher.           

          Add some quirky details such as this dragonfly in the middle of the letter U in the title.

Step back during the process of stapling and arranging and look from different angles to see if it all ‘fits’. It should feel natural.    

Make adjustments if an image doesn’t seem right and staple it somewhere else to the board or don’t use it.

Get the display books and arrange them around the display board and on top of the boxes. If you use book stands use a bit of tape to secure the stand to the box.

Connect the Christmas lights and let it sparkle!!!

Filed under: Animals, Flora and Fauna, Nature