It’s my favorite time of year, friends! Yes, it’s getting close to the holidays…but also, it’s time for the CutCardStock red, green and white paper sale too! I love creating 3D projects with card stock, and this one is perfect for adults and kids alike.
We are going to create a paper garland that will work on your tree, across a mantel or even in a teacher’s classroom.
I came up with this idea after my college-aged daughter was trying to get creative with inexpensive Christmas decor. This is really simple – just a few cuts are needed along with some twine, glue and a hole punch.
We are going to start with the Pop Tone Gum Drop Green paper, where I’ve cut out about 32 holly leaves. I had a die cut in my stash, but I did find this same shape in the Cricut Design Library too. You can even trace one and cut them out by hand!
Next, I took 1/2 of the Pop Tone Gum Drop Green leaves and ran them through the die cut machine with an embossing folder. I like the dimension this gives the garland.
The other leaves I decided to stamp with a forest green ink and a background stamp. This one has a Christmas song page pattern.
For the berries, I’ve used the Discount Habanero Red card stock and cut strips in 1/2″ by 4″ pieces. Half of these strips are then bent into a circle and glued.
Once dry, I bent a second circle around these going criss-cross over it to form a berry and glued in place. One tip: I used a tape runner to temporarily hold them in place along with a drop of glue, then clamped them shut with a clothespin until they dried.
I’ve placed the leaves back to back and then punched 2 holes in the middle. From there, I’ve added a scored fold line to the middle of each leaf, in order to have a nice, crisp fold.
Taking a strand of twine, I’ve threaded it through the 2 lines. I did not glue the leaves together, but if you’d like, you can.
At this point, take the Discount Habanero Red berries and string them in between each leaf set, and then repeat with every set as you’d like. This garland is about 3 feet long and took about 8 sets of leaves.
That is all it takes to make a fun and colorful decoration! I’m imagining this done in a white and red as well. There are so many spots in a home or office to hang something like this.
Will you give a project like this a try? What colors will you choose and where would you hang it up in your home? I hope you enjoy the start of the holidays and let me know with a comment if you give this a try. Thanks – see you soon!
