Hey ya’ll, I’ve been a little quiet this month. I have lots of little things going on and well… that thing called life! But no fears, I’m back on track.
I’ve been anxious for fall to finally show it’s face around here. This weekend I started to switch over my mantel. Yay!
While planning my fall decor, I wanted to try some sort of garland. Garland in fall you say? YES! Why not? I came up with this super simple fall garland made out of old book pages.
Tools:
First, I took a SVG image of a few different shaped leaves and arranged them in various sizes in my Silhouette Studio editing program (which comes free when you purchase any Silhouette Cameo).
If you don’t have a Silhouette Cameo, you NEED one! No seriously. I do EVERYTHING with this machine. I’ll save that for another post…
Taking an old book that has been sitting on a shelf for have a decade, I begun to rip out pages. Choosing ones that had the best print, I started sending them through my cutter.
Go find a good Netflix series, this process will take you a while!
Tip: I used an older mat that wasn’t as sticky to prevent the paper from ripping when I peeled the leaves off.
I also used the settings: Blade = 1, Speed = 6, and Force = 26. These setting gave me the best results, but know things may vary depending on age of your paper and thickness.
Now, go make a few hundred leaves… no seriously…
It’s always better to have too many, than get half way through a project and not have enough! I’m totally speaking from experience. At 12 a.m., I had to drag out the Silhouette Cameo and start cutting more so I could finish the last 12″ of my garland! {Insert angry, cursing mad, red face emoji here…lesson learned!}
Just for reference, my garland was approximatly 6 feet in length and I used close to 200 leaves.
Since I wanted some depth and movement in my garland, I wanted the leaves edges dusted with some fall color. To do this, I pulled out an old pallet of chalk pastels and used the reds, oranges, browns, tans, and even some yellows around the edges of the leaves. To apply I used a cotton ball. Get creative!
Once the leaves are cut and colored, grab your glue gun and some large gauge metal craft wire. Oh, and hopefully you haven’t finished that killer Netflix series… cause this part takes the most time. It took me about 2 hours to complete the entire garland, and mine was about 6 ft long.
I’d like to say there’s a technique here. There really isn’t one. I did fold the leaves in half to give some dimension to the garland. I also made sure to alternate sizes and color vs. plain leaves. Happy gluing!
I wanted the garland sturdy, yet pliable enough to hang over the ends of the mantel. The wire really allows for just that. I didn’t even have to tape or tie it down for it to stay in place.
Like my chalk paint foam pumpkins? I decided fall this year was going to be teal, mauve and white.
Ta-Da!
Later on in the week I will have a full mantel reveal. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve to get the decor just right.
Hope you enjoyed and this project gives you some inspiration for fall!
Cheers,
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I’m Maria, a lover of furry things, coffee and anything creative. This blog is where I love to share affordable home decor ideas, great DIYs, yummy recipes, unique crafts and so much more.
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5 thoughts on “Easy to Make Fall Garland”
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This is so pretty. I have already started cutting leaves out of a book and splattering them with paint but had not decided what to do with them. Thank you for the idea.
Miriam,
You’re more than welcome. Thank you for such a thoughtful comment. I hope your garland turns out beautifully and brings you all the good feels of fall.
XO,
Maria
Great idea. — love the colors!
Thank you Lorraine!