3.25.2011

Spring Garland How To

This is turning into the year of garlands. Why? Because they are cheap, easy and they pack a big punch. I loved my Valentine's Garland so much that I decided to try out a spring version. And it's... well... very springy. And colorful. And bright. But it's cute and Miss. S adores it! She keeps telling be how beautiful the flowers are. So I guess it works.

With the heart garland I cut out the hearts, glue gunned them together, then sewed them all in a row. Super easy. This one ended up being a little more complicated just because I didn't use the sewing machine. With all the different colors I didn't want the white thread to show. So I took crochet string that I had on hand and glue gunned them all together. Here's what I did.

1. Gather supplies. I used 8 pieces of different colored felt (They were 4 for a dollar), crochet string (any string will do), ribbon, a simple flower pattern (drawn by hand and far from perfect) scissors and a glue gun.

2. Cut out 4 flowers from each color (I ended up having to use more but this was a good starting out point) and 8 dots from both yellow and orange (again I ended up having to cut more). Depending on how long you want it you could use more or less, but I would suggest you measure first.
2. Start glueing them to the string. I didn't cut my string until the end. You will use 2 flowers to make each one. Put the back of the flower behind the string and dab glue gun across the string. Then place the top flower on top of the string. Sandwiching the string between the two sides (Hopefully the above picture will kind of show you what I'm trying to explain).

3. I then dabbed a little glue on each petal to make sure they stayed together and glued on
center dots.

4. Once complete I cut 2 lengths of ribbon about a foot long. Fold them in half and glue them to the end flowers to act as ties. Make sure to trim your string slightly shorter than the garland so that it doesn't hang out and show. Hang and enjoy!

Like I said I ended up using a little more than I anticipated. I cut out four more flowers out of different colors, 2 yellow dots and 2 orange dots. I didn't put the flowers in any particular order. They are just random. I don't have a fancy machine that cuts out all the pieces for me so this was all by hand. It does take some time to get everything cut out and glued together. I cut out everything yesterday and assembled today. All during nap time. It really didn't seem to hard. I watched some T.V. and the time went by really fast. I think it took me a total of four hours to make and the cost of felt. Everything else I had on hand. It will definitely add some Spring to your home and if you have little girls they will oh and ah over it.

1 comment:

J.Reed said...

Soooo cute!! Im going to make them today!