Festive Garlands: Part Seven..FINALLY, It's Spring!

It's a landmark day in Streicherville. The remaining snowflake garlands have fallen at last, and in their place, spring has sprung. Let me give you a quick recap.

Last week, I told you here about my still-falling paper snowflakes, and considered the possibility that Mother Nature may be waiting on me to get them down before she delivers spring weather to the Pacific Northwest.  

In that same post, I tossed around some ideas for what my new spring garlands might look like. They filled me with inspiration and once again, I'm thankful to Pinterest for helping me to brainstorm.

In the end, I decided to work with what I had. That's always a winning strategy, don't you think? By primping up some several-years-old green leafy garlands with an infusion of yellow cutout flowers, I've introduced a spring fling in my living room.

This super simple project involves nothing more than paper, scissors, needle and thread, tape, a few paperclips, and a silver Sharpie. 

Oh, and you'll need a dowel or small branch from which to hang the garlands. Suspended from my living room ceiling is a slim white wooden rod that that I use for just this sort of thing. You can catch a glimpse of it in the photo above. Use Command hooks or a pair of screw eyes, and some fishing line to set your horizontal hanging device in place. 

Here's a quick breakdown of the DIY:

I started with some green paper leaves, left over from a previous Romeo-and-Juliet-inspired garland. Using various shades of green cardstock and construction paper, splashed here and there with tempera paints, I quickly drew these simple leaf shapes with a silver Sharpie. After cutting out each leaf, I sketched the same lines on the reverse side.

These guys are a little rumpled from spending a few months in my closet. I swear I hung them on a hook but I found them in a heap on the floor, Oh, kittens.

Next, I collected some paper for the flowers. I was feeling daffodils so I went with three shades of yellow scrapbook paper. After sorting high and low around the house, I came up with three silver Sharpies, two of which were pretty much used up. Happily, the third one was full of ink for drawing out this very simple flower shape on all three of the pages of yellow paper.

Yep, I think I mastered this basic design in fifth grade. Who knew my madd elementary school art skillz would serve me so well.

After cutting out all those lovelies, I flipped them over and drew the silver lines on the reverse side, just as I did with the leaves. 

A manicure might be a good idea.

Next step: sew the leaves together into a series of garlands. 

Start with a long, long length of thread - maybe 20 inches longer than the desired length of the finished section of garland. Tie it off with a simple square knot to the middle of a mostly unbent paper clip.

Now thread the needle onto the long end of the thread and grab a leaf. 

In the most unscientific manner possible, use the needle to poke two little holes in one end of the leaf. Sew from top to bottom, and then from top to bottom again, so the stitch locks the leaf in place on the thread. 

Some thoughts on assembling the leafy bits:

• Since paper rips easily, keep the holes at least a quarter inch away from the edges of the leaf.
• Since paper rips easily, keep the holes at least a quarter inch away from each other.
• Keep in mind that the angle of the holes will determine the angle at which the leaf will hang from the thread. Play with the placement, and check your work to see what you like. Mix it up so the leaves are hanging this way and that, rather than in a uniform column of little green paper soldiers.
• Consider how many individual garlands you need, and how much variety you want in the finished lengths of each one. Mix up the number of leaves per garland, and the amount of spacing between the leaves, to create some rhythm.
• As you finish each section of garland, it will save you a lot of untangling and associated muttering under your breath if you hang each one up in its own personal bubble, rather than laying them down or letting them mingle with their counterparts. However, keep a close eye on your cats. You know how they love to tussle with anything that hangs. 

When your leafy garlands are tied off and hanging in good order, it's time to weave in the flowers. 

Are you ready for this complex and technically challenging step? Brace yourself.

Grab a flower, a bit of tape, and look for an interesting gap along the length of a garland. When you find one, tape that bad boy blossom into place. 

Yes. Just tape it. The plain leafy garlands make a nice neutral base that can be dressed up or changed around for every season. Fluffy pink flowers for the lush days of summer, red berries for winter, or maybe some orange leaves mixed in for fall. 

So let's make it easy to transform this pup. Tape, it is.

Now drag in a ladder and start hanging your garlands from the dowel. Those half-opened paper clips make handy devices for snapping the garlands in place.

Arrange and rearrange the lengths of garland on the dowel, adjusting the placement of the various lengths to create a look that pleases you. If you are like me, you might need to find someone who will watch until your aesthetic trial-and-error turns into neurotic obsession, and then force you down off the ladder and back to terra firma, where it all looks just fine.

So there you have it, my spring garland. It's nothing fancy, but to me, it's just the right touch of cheery sunshine and springtime energy. Kinda makes me want to break out in song. Like this: