DIY Christmas Garland

Last year I made a beautiful garland to go on our makeshift mantle (we don't have a fireplace so I painted a shelf from a craft store to hang our stockings) and I absolutely loved it.

Our Christmas Garland from 2012

Christmas mantle 2012

This year I thought I would do it again! Unfortunately, we picked up 30ft garland from Home Depot in the city and it was awful! So thin and falling apart. I decided to make the best of it anyway.

Here's a quick tutorial:

You will need real evergreen garland (whatever length you'd need), wire, wire cutters, fairy lights, cheap Christmas ornaments and beaded garland (if you'd like).

I didn't use all of the ornaments. 

I doubled up the garland (to 15ft total) to make it a bit fuller and wrapped a beaded garland and fairy lights around the entire length.

Don't mind the mess =)

I then laid out the ornaments at varying distances alternating sides.

Finally, I used the wire to tie the ornaments to the garland being sure not to tie around the entire width of garland (this would prevent the garland from looking full and hanging over the edge in places which tends to look really nice).

The final product!

Not as pretty as last year, but still a nice addition! 

This year I used the garland for our entertainment unit rather then the mantel. I'll eventually do a post with all of our Christmas decorations as it's my favorite holiday and I tend to go a little over the top. It deserves it's own post! =)

Happy decorating!

xo

Alison