Holidaze is a new series about having a fun, less costly, relaxing fall and winter holiday season.
When I was younger and spent the holidays with my parents, we had a bunch of homemade ornaments made over decades by the women in my family. My mom was not crafty, but I am deadly crafty. One of the easiest projects you can do to add a lot of character to your Christmas tree, holiday mantle, over your curtain rods -- whatever you want to decorate -- is a garland.
A garland can be almost anything. I'll walk you through some ideas here.
The simplest garland, to me, is a long length of string (category) dotted with some kind of bauble (category).
For string, you can use any kind of yarn. If you have more utilitarian string, like thin rope, kitchen twine, or even safe metal wire, that can work. You could tie together old shoelaces, spiral cut an old tshirt into a rope, or even make plarn (plastic bag yarn). If you're a saver, you might have some pretty ribbons you can use. Paracord, nylon beading cord, leather strapping. If you have something but it seems too flimsy, like plarn, you can braid some into a thicker strand and use that.
For baubles, the only real limitation is that everything should be pretty lightweight. I love pewter charms, but they'll drag down the garland in a weird way. You can use pompons, circles cut out of cardstock or cereal boxes, fabric kisses, plastic beads. It could be fun to use dry pasta wagon wheels or something. If you have more time and desire, you can cut shapes out of felt, make origami shapes like "ninja stars," add phone charms or tiny stuffed animals (you will get them back after the holiday season!), make a bunch of paper snowflakes with your loved ones, or papier mache shapes to decorate.
In the past, I've chosen paper or card in whatever colors I want, traced and cut circles out of them, then used a hole punch (mine was shaped like a frog) to make a hanging spot. In the last couple of years, I upped my game by getting a big circle punch and some regular circle hole punches. I have had my funny shaped punches since I was a child.
Circles are just easy because they're all alike, but you could do hearts, stars, ice cream cones, frogs, whatever you want. You know yourself and what you might find fun to cut out a hundred times.
If you have holiday gatherings at home or work and want to celebrate them, you could put out plain circles for people to decorate, write sweet messages on, or even just sign. You could do this project with your Thanksgiving gathering while you watch football or whatever.
Once you have your string and your baubles, you can start combining them. This step can be hard because you have to plan the spacing a bit. If you want, actually do the math, by dividing your total length of string by the number of baubles you have.
When I make garlands like this, I attach the baubles by using a slipknot (I think). Basically, choose the place where the bauble will go, then fold the string at that point. Thread the folded string into the hole in your bauble. Pull it through until you have a loop large enough to pass around the entire bauble, then gently pull the string tight until the bauble is secured to the string. This is hard to explain in text. I promise it isn't hard to do though.
My goal with this garland is multifold.
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You don't need to buy garland, unless you want to.
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A lot of retail decorations are plastic or other garbage that we don't need more of.
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Many people's specific beliefs or taste are not represented at the store. I want everyone to have a garland!
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Working on this project with your loved ones will itself be a great memory.
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You can do this project again and again with new things you like, new items your loved ones are interested in, different colors or even different holidays.
As I add Holidaze posts, I'll link to the others.
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