Die-Cut Paper Garland

I'm making some things for Ronda's seasonal (Spring is coming!) display table - first up is this easy die-cut paper garland. Using a Stampin' Up die (from the Swirly Scribble thinlits)  I cut out a bunch of different colored swirly circles, saving the center piece that popped out after cutting them. Then I just arranged them how I wanted, including the center pieces, and stapled them together. This is over 3' in length for Ronda to drape wherever on her table she wants - simple and a nice little touch to add some color, texture, and dimension to her display. More projects coming soon!

Fall Circle Garland

For Ronda's Fall seasonal display table I made a circle garland (the last one I made was for my niece's graduation in the spring, click here for that post and see more on how to make these) - this is so simple but makes a big impact. Punch or cut out multiple circles in different sizes and colors, I used a few different ones from Stampin' Up's fall seasonal papers, then sew them together. Unlike last time I didn't make any kind of pattern or use any thought - just tried to not put two of the same color or pattern paper together. This is really easy and quick to make up - then hang it wherever you want! For her table I draped a long chain of the sewn circles around some sticks (the same ones from the Halloween table, click here for that post).

Chain Garland

Helping Ronda at her Stampin' Up studio is so much fun and fills me with creative ideas. But having said that, it is also causing me to have a little OCD problem - I cannot bring myself to waste paper or supplies, or throw anything away that might be "useful"...so I end up bringing home all sorts of scraps of paper, bits of ribbon, empty ribbon rolls...you name it and I've thought "I can make something out of that"! Needless to say, I have a whole bunch of little bits of stuff everywhere in my craft room!!

A super easy quick thing I made out of strips of leftover paper is this fall colored chain garland. I "rescued" lots of little strips from Ronda's recycle pile (conveniently they are all fall colored and go together, beauty of Stampin' Up seasonal papers - it all matches!), not sure what she trimmed them off of but they're all the exact same size so I didn't even have to trim them - ahhhh, I love a craft that almost makes itself ha! You will most likely have to cut strips to equal size, but really - that isn't hard. To assemble the chain you just start with one strip, curl it into a circle and staple it closed. Then thread the next strip thru the first circle and staple it into a circle. Continue until it's as long as you want, then find a cute place to drape it - maybe your mantel, from some sticks in a vase,  or over a bathroom mirror...you get the idea. Cute, easy, cheap, quick - and it used up a few of the little scrap papers I have!

Paper Circle Garland

My niece Paige is graduating from cosmetology school tonight and asked me to help decorate her station for her last day. Hello, of course I'll help - happily! Her colors are black, gold, and cream - she didn't care what we did as long as it's "creative and cool", and doesn't involve tissue paper - apparently that's what everyone does which makes it not creative and cool.

I got the idea for circle garland on Pinterest, some for purchase and some homemade - of course I'm going to make it (!) - it'll be cute to drape over her mirror. Initially I planned to hot glue the cut out circles to some black and white bakers twine I have, but then I saw someone sewed the circles together and I wanted to try that - don't think I've sewn on paper before...

The hardest part of this project was cutting out the circles - and that wasn't hard, just time consuming. I have a circle rotary cutter and that was helpful, you could do them by hand but that's gonna take even longer of course. I cut out 21 small 1 inch circles from 3 different cardstock papers (black, shiny gold, and cream), for a total of 63, 6 2" circles (total 18), and 3 3" circles. Then I figured out the pattern I wanted which ended up being one 2" circle then 3 small circles, interspersing the largest circle every now and then, and started sewing - between every circle I continued to sew for a second so there is a little space between the circles.

The sewing of the garland didn't take long at all and look how great this turned out! I'm going to be making these often now in different colors - and will be on the lookout for pre-cut paper circles!

To finish her station we put up the shiny gold paper across the top and used black letter stickers to put her name on it, then attached black balloons that I decorated by brushing on glue and sprinkling with chunky gold glitter. I'll show you how I did the balloons and what the final project looks like tomorrow after I take pictures tonight!

my mock up of the plan for her station