We had a surprise birthday celebration for my sister which kept me super busy the past couple weeks - I told you in a couple posts that I was making things I couldn't share yet (that's because we were trying to keep it a surprise!) but now that her day has come and gone (very successfully I might add!) I'm ready to share some of the things we did. First up is this giant crepe paper garland - I wasn't sure what we'd do with it but it's so pretty, fun, and party-ish that I made it figuring we'd find a way to use it. Ended up hanging it on my sis's golf cart for the day part of her party and she loved it.
For no good reason, I had a difficult time trying to figure out the instructions to make this garland, it is totally not hard but I was on the struggle bus with it. After stapling and removing the staples twice (!) I came up with this - not sure if it's made like the inspiration one but whatever, it turned out great. I'll share the link where I found the garland directions, but here's how I did it:
You'll need big sheets of crepe paper, either in all one color or mix colors together. I ordered a 6 pack of multi colors from Amazon, each piece measures 20" wide by 8 feet long. It comes in rolls and reminds me of tissue paper but it's stretchy crepe paper material - I did not even know crepe paper comes in big sheets like this. I decided to use 3 different colors for her garland so that took 3 pieces of crepe paper each 20" by 8' long. Before you even unroll the paper, cut the rolls in half so each roll is two halves that are 10" wide each. Unroll the paper and stack the 10" sheets on top of each other, you'll have 6 sheets altogether stacked. Fold in half so your bundle is now 5" wide x 8' and staple along the long folded edge. After folding you'll have 12 sheets on top of each other. Make cuts almost to the fold, about 1" apart - this part reminds me of making a tie-blanket; you've just created an 8' fringed garland, folded and stapled on one side and fringed on the other. Make sense? Of course I forgot to take detailed pictures while I was doing it, so I simulated the steps with red paper (I'm saying that so you don't get confused why the garland was green, pink and orange, and is now red LOL!)
The next bit is time consuming but I stood at the counter doing it and reading my book at the same time - which is to say that it isn't hard at all and requires very little focus, it's just mindlessly working the fringed part of the paper. You need to pick up each piece of fringe individually and smooth it out - you know how crepe paper has that crinkly stretchy texture? Well if you gently pull it apart the crinkles stretch and smooth out and the fringe gets wider, fuller and fluffier. Continue with every. single. piece. of fringe - daunting I know but really it is simple, just watch tv or read or something while doing it and it goes much faster!
Once the fringe has been smoothed out and fluffed, twist each fringe section and the stapled part turns almost into a rope-like core. At first it isn't pretty and you'll think "what the? this is not a pretty fun partyish garland at all" but give it time. The more you twist, I alternated twisting one way and then the other, the better it looks. Once you twist the entire length the garland holds its shape and doesn't unwind at all - I was a bit surprised about that actually!
I love love how this garland turned out, so much so that (without asking my sis) I rescued it from the golf cart and squirreled it away when no one was looking - I'll be using this again in the future for sure!
For no good reason, I had a difficult time trying to figure out the instructions to make this garland, it is totally not hard but I was on the struggle bus with it. After stapling and removing the staples twice (!) I came up with this - not sure if it's made like the inspiration one but whatever, it turned out great. I'll share the link where I found the garland directions, but here's how I did it:
You'll need big sheets of crepe paper, either in all one color or mix colors together. I ordered a 6 pack of multi colors from Amazon, each piece measures 20" wide by 8 feet long. It comes in rolls and reminds me of tissue paper but it's stretchy crepe paper material - I did not even know crepe paper comes in big sheets like this. I decided to use 3 different colors for her garland so that took 3 pieces of crepe paper each 20" by 8' long. Before you even unroll the paper, cut the rolls in half so each roll is two halves that are 10" wide each. Unroll the paper and stack the 10" sheets on top of each other, you'll have 6 sheets altogether stacked. Fold in half so your bundle is now 5" wide x 8' and staple along the long folded edge. After folding you'll have 12 sheets on top of each other. Make cuts almost to the fold, about 1" apart - this part reminds me of making a tie-blanket; you've just created an 8' fringed garland, folded and stapled on one side and fringed on the other. Make sense? Of course I forgot to take detailed pictures while I was doing it, so I simulated the steps with red paper (I'm saying that so you don't get confused why the garland was green, pink and orange, and is now red LOL!)
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| the top edge is the folded and stapled side, then fringe the loose edge |
The next bit is time consuming but I stood at the counter doing it and reading my book at the same time - which is to say that it isn't hard at all and requires very little focus, it's just mindlessly working the fringed part of the paper. You need to pick up each piece of fringe individually and smooth it out - you know how crepe paper has that crinkly stretchy texture? Well if you gently pull it apart the crinkles stretch and smooth out and the fringe gets wider, fuller and fluffier. Continue with every. single. piece. of fringe - daunting I know but really it is simple, just watch tv or read or something while doing it and it goes much faster!
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| photo from the inspiration directions on cutting and smoothing out the fringe |
click here for original source
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