Last week while doing a little Christmas shopping I came across a fun Christmas garland. I tossed it in my basket and continued walking around the shop. As I walked, my head was fighting the decision to “buy” this garland. It was saying “you can totally make this…why not save a little money?” So I removed it from my basket and that was that, I was going to make a Christmas garland. On Monday my Mom came and took Poppy for the day so I could set up the house for Christmas. I had the whole day planned out. Work on the garland. De-clutter all the residual crap that had accumulated in piles all around the house from the week before. Then bring up the Christmas boxes from the basement, dust them off and deck the house! That morning I sat down at the table for breakfast and began making this garland with no thought as to how long it would take…..many hours later this is what I ended up with. I’m thrilled with the final result but not too happy about the fact that my home remains Christmas decoration free (other than this awesome garland) due to the fact that I totally underestimated how long it would take to cut out every letter by hand and then paint them all. For those of you who are thinking about getting crafty and attempting this, I suggest you make it over the course of a few days. Trace and cut the letters one day, maybe while watching your fave Christmas movie? And then the next day you could paint them and on the third day do the hole punching and stringing. Had I done it this way I’m sure I would have been able to enjoy my garland without that trace of time sucking resentment that I inevitably will feel every time I look at it.

You will need:

• Thin cardboard, I tore the back end off of a few of Poppy’s colouring pads and that was perfect.
• string, rope, yarn of choice
• paint, as many colours as you like. I used acrylic and am happy with the results.
• large paintbrush
• glitter
• white craft glue
• hole punch
• scissors
• large needle for threading, I used a plastic children’s beginner needle and that worked great. You could also just tape the end so that it’s strong enough to easily poke through the holes.

To make:

1. outline the letters and stars, I used 5 stars; 2 large, 3 medium
2. cut them out
3. paint, set aside to dry
4. choose as many letters and stars as you want to glitter and paint with a thin layer of glue.
5. cover with sparkles. Set aside to dry. I suggest laying the letters and stars on a sheet of paper to catch the excess glitter, then when you are done you can fold the paper and funnel it back into the glitter jar.
6. Using the single hole punch, punch holes in each letter and stars making sure to place them all at the same level.
7. thread, starting with the large star then small and follow with the letters. I also placed a star between words. Make sure to leave a generous amount of thread at either end for stringing up.
8. to hang I used wash tape because it comes in so many fun colours and patterns and won’t rip the paint off your walls when removing.

That’s it. So go on and make yourself a beautiful homemade garland! Remember, be creative and have fun with it. Happy crafting!