Hi! My name is Madeline and I’m Sarah and Nick’s real life friend. I say it that way because at one point, Sarah and I were mere internet friends. The horror! It was a biggg step to go to that next level of friendship, but we did it! Yay! Sarah and I bonded over music, beer, and crafts…probably our three favorite things. I wanted to stop by to give you a little look into my crafty little world in Lancaster, PA! I hope you enjoy this guest post. Cheers!
Decorating for the holidays. Something I always want to do, but I’m not willing to spend a ton of money on doing. A Christmas tree? Yes. A million hearts and wreaths and cutesy items? Not so much. Though, admittedly, I do love cutesy items. So instead, I decided to make a few garlands that I could reuse for other holidays or events. And I’m game for anything involving felt, so here you go!
Felt Bead Garland
The top garland is a felted necklace I was eying up for a while and eventually purchased from Paper Source. I was constantly looking for felted beads/balls and always disappointed at how expensive they were. I was also not happy about wool prices and how much effort is involved in making felted wool balls. So, I purchased this necklace for $12.95, deconstructed it and reconstructed it into one long strand using a needle and thread. I love this and will definitely be leaving it up for a long time (read: forever).
Felt Strip Garland
The middle garland is an Anthropologie-inspired piece. Again, it’s made out of felt, so creating this myself was a no-brainer.
What you’ll need:
- Felt (I used 8 different colors)
- Scissors
- Needle
- Embroidery Floss
What you'll do:
- Cut each piece of felt into little strips. Don’t be afraid to cut them all different widths and lengths. It adds some interesting character to the garland.
- Now it’s time to start stringing them together. I like to pinch each one in half and thread the needle through twice, like this…
- So, after you thread a bunch, your garland will start looking like this.
- Keep going until it’s your desired length. Mine is an arm’s length and a half, which didn’t take too long to string.
"XOXO" Garland
Now, the third garland, xoxoxo, is my favorite!
What you’ll need:
- Felt
- Scissors
- Needle
- Embroidery Floss
- Printed Letters (I found these on Pinterest, and I thought they’d be perfect for this project. I clearly just used the “x” and the “o,” but you can spell out whatever you’d like!)
What you'll do:
- I cut out each letter and traced them onto felt. Again, I used several different colors. Cut out each letter and lay them out in a color order you like best.
- Now it’s time to string them together. I used one little loop through both letters to secure them together. Here you can see me sewing them together in my sweatpanted craftland glory.
- Once you have sewed each letter to its neighbor, add a loop of thread to each end for easy hanging. And then, hang ‘em all up, take a step back and admire your gorgeous garlands.
I think the layered look is so great and festive. Throw in a string of lights if you’re feeling wild! I’m planning on making a couple more lettered garlands in the (very) near future. The world is my oyster, ya know? I hope you enjoyed getting a little peek into my mantel area and how I like to decorate it!
Madeline + (Sarah & Nick)
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