Autumn Decorating: Simple Garland Tutorial

I'd love to tell you that I decorate my home for every season, but the sad reality is that I really only decorate in the fall and winter. I've got a few spring decorations that are my very favorites, but they are frequently forgotten in the New Year rush and bumble. And summer in Phoenix is just too darn hot to do much of anything including decorating. Because we (meaning the kids and I) are so proud of our efforts, I thought we'd share a few decorating ideas. Of course, it is getting a little late for Halloween decor, but you can certainly apply these ideas to other seasons.

We'll begin outside with my beautiful fall foliage.

That's it.

Now, we'll proceed inside with my bookshelves that we recently moved together. You will probably notice that I include a lot of potted plants in my decorating. I love plants. They add such a beautiful, organic feel to my home.

As you can probably surmise by the bricks and children's artwork, I believe in integrating kid stuff with adult stuff. I think it adds to the overall loving and accepting ambiance in our home.

Now for my crowning glory in decorating this year...I am so proud of this chandelier that I just might burst confetti puffy hearts. It was very difficult to photograph because I didn't want too many distracting elements in the background and I also didn't want to take everything off the walls. (I only have so much time to stylize my photos.) I hope you can get the idea. If only all of you lived near me, I'd show you in person.

I thought that the garland was enough until Zo came home from Brownies with these awesome-dawsom paper pumpkins. I quickly swiped them up, added strings and hung them. Now, we are complete.

Let me share with you how I made the very simple garland because everyone should be as happy as I am. (giggle) The title to this tutorial is a little lengthy, but I think it sums it up exactly

How to Make a Very Simple Garland 
and Achieve a Sense of Serious Pride 

in Your Decorating Talents

Materials
Double-sided paper
Hole Punch (optional)
Paper punches
Scissors
Sewing machine and thread OR embroidery floss and needle
Any other objects you'd like to incorporate.

Here are a few ideas for shapes: ghosts, cupcakes, any basic shape, leaves, hearts, flowers, letters, suns and moons, animals, Santa hats, pencil shapes, building shapes, shamrocks, birds, strips of paper or fabric, flags, superhero symbols, cars and trucks, etc.

Other things you might add: playing cards, tags, felt items, bulky flowers (like Primas or tissue paper flowers), ephemera like ticket stubs, maps, paint chips, crepe paper, etc.

Technique
1. Punch or cut out the shapes you'd like for your garland. You'll need about 2-4 pieces of 12x12 double- sided paper to make a nice size garland depending on the size of your punch, of course. (I personally used scraps from other projects.) My two oldest daughters (8 and 10 years old) helped with this part. Don't forget that you can use fabric too! Just use your scissors with fabric.

2. If you have a sewing machine and would like to use it, load up with your favorite color thread and begin to sew for about 6 inches with nothing in the machine, just get a little tail going. Next, place your shape into the machine and let the feed dogs take it in. Continue to sew for about an inch after your shape is integrated into the garland, then add another. Repeat until you are happy with the garland's length. If your thread breaks, don't panic. Just start again on the last shape and continue. Snip off any extra threads at the end. You can see a close-up below. I varied sizes of circles and was quite loose about how far apart they are. You can either randomly add each shape or you can do an ombre thing by starting with a light color and getting darker or you can keep each color together. You decide.

3. If you do not have a sewing machine, punch two very small holes in each shape at the top and thread a needle with a long piece of embroidery floss. (You want your holes to be big enough that the needle passes through easily, but small enough that the floss stays in place and your shapes don't eventually migrate to the center of the garland.) Go in and out of each shape adding it to the garland. This will take longer than the sewing machine method, but will have a homier feel. If you turn on the TV or listen to a podcast, you'll be done in no time!

4. Immediately after finishing with your sewing, hang your garland and enjoy the fruits of your handiwork. You rock!

Paper Strip Pumpkin Tutorial

Materials

2 Brads (any size)

Double-sided patterned paper

Hole punch

Scissors

String (optional)

NOTE: You don't have to make these spheres into pumpkins, they could also be Christmas ornaments or abstract globes or hung like lanterns for a fancy dinner party. It all depends on what kind of paper you use. What would happen if you used sheet metal? WARNING: Be careful with sheet metal as the edges may be very sharp and cut your hands!

Technique

1. Cut strips of paper out of double-sided paper. The strips should be about 2-3 inches wide and about 7-12 inches long depending on the size pumpkin you'd like. You'll need about 8 strips per pumpkin.

2. Stack the strips and punch a hole at the top and at the bottom of the all strips. If you have a Crop-a-dile, this will be easy. Make sure that you don't punch too far off the edge and the paper rips.

3. Insert the brads into the two holes.

4. Separate the strips to obtain a beautiful spherical shape. Do this carefully so you don't rip the paper.

5. If you'd like to hang your pumpkins, tie string to the brad and hang.

6. Enjoy!

If you have other ideas for cool garlands, please leave me a comment, I'll add them to this post. And, if you have any picture links, please share those too. Now that I have my cool chandelier (thanks Jess!) I'm very excited about decorating it.

xoxo
B