Easy Fall Garland

I’m always on the hunt for easy, inexpensive ways to dress up my apartment for the seasons . . . Particularly (well, almost exclusively) fall because it works really well with my incessant need to “nest.” I’ll usually make a point to buy some cute, decorative pumpkins, maybe even some gourds, but my favorite part of the whole process is actually crafting something. Even if the project is super simple, binge watching Mad Men while making something makes the binge watching feel a whole lot more productive! Like check out this blanket I've been mading while watching Parenthood:

These projects take a bit of commitment time-and-money-wise, though, so I try not to start those up all too often (but, of course, I have another blanket project waiting for me at home). When I’m not making blankets, my favorite, low commitment thing to make is (you already know unless you missed the post title) . . .

Garland! (and simple garland at  that!) All you need is: -a printer -colored construction paper -scissors -twine -tape or push pins for hanging

Paper Leaf Garland (inspired by A Beautiful Mess)

This entire post was actually inspired by The ABM folks' garland tutorials! Simply print their easy template, cut out each leaf and trace them onto our construction paper (or you can print the template on each piece of construction paper as they did. Either way works!)

Paper punch each leaf twice, with each hole side by side, string them up with your twine and "Voila!"

 

"Give Thanks" Letter Garland

With Thanksgiving coming up, we wanted to do a little something for one of our favorite holidays. A nice, welcoming GIVE THANKS seemed perfect.

For this garland, simply print out our GIVE THANKS template, print (again you can print each letter on different colored paper or cut and trace as we did below) and cut out your letters.

Punch each letter twice with each hole side by side (certain letters such as V and K below will need punches in each of the tops), string together on twine and would you look at that!

DIY Tissue Paper Tassels 

Now all of the garland so far has been fun and easy to make but this one took the cake!

1. Lay sheet of tissue paper flat 2. Fold in half, creating a horizontal fold 3. Fold in half again, creating a vertical fold 4. Fold in half again (vertically) and cut half-inch slits about 2/4 of the way up the paper 5. Unfold the tissue paper once and cut the middle fringe (which should be about an inch thick) up to where the other pieces are cut. Unfold again and cut middle fringe all the way through. You will have two pieces. 6. Completely unfold the tissue and lay out flat, fringes pointed out. 7. Begin rolling down center fold of tissue paper 8. Continue twisting paper tightly 9. Create loop and tape paper together to hold in place 10. String on twine!

Check out a few more of our favorite fall projects here: