ten garlands in ten days: day five

once again, goin' with what i have piling up around the tiny casa, today's garland can be prettied up in all sorts of ways. here's what i used...

*happy straws (paper & plastic)
*bakers twine
*scalloped punch
*pages from a music book
*glue stick


i used a combo of paper punches and straw pieces, keeping the paper punches to the outer edges so that i had something to sandwich over the looped ends.

there are three garlands here. each one is about a yard in length. hanging them in a group makes for some happy garland lurve.

they also make a very nice necklace. happy monday!

ten garlands in ten days: four {the netflix edition}

i do not hide the fact that i come from a zillion generations of packrats. this being so, it should not be a surprise that i do not always throw away things that probably should be thrown away...or at the very least, recycled. which brings me to today's garland...

that's right folks. i used my netflix papers. it's great how you send back the very envie that is sent to you but you still have a small sheet of red paper to contend with. and since i had a nice neat stack of the darn things i decided i should DO something with them. so here is what you need plus a couple of drinking straws.

prep your hanger buy joining two straws together. you just pinch the end of one and slide it into the other.then, use a small pair of scissors to nick the top part of your straws at semi-equal intervals.

cut a length of string or baker's twine and loop one end through the little slits you just made. no knotting or glue is necessary for this part.

punch out your shapes with your decorative punches or go ahead and rock your freestyle heart cuttin' skills. arrange your backs along your hanging strings and slather with glue stick.

add the top layer so that the string/twine is now sandwiched between two shapes. continue until you run out of room or shapes.

hang and admire...or maybe go brew some tea and watch that flick you just got!

ten garlands in ten days: three

here are your suspects.



all you need to do for this one is use your hole punch to punch out the letters you want to spell.

tape off the end of your yarn so that it is easier to thread through your holes. this is a great lacing project for kidlets as well!


starting at one end of your "letter", lace your yarn through the holes doubling back once you reach the end so that you have a "stitched" appearance.

tie of your ends in the back.
punch two holes at the top and weave a length of contrasting ribbon through the whole shebang.

hang and admire. that's it! a nifty garland in about ten minutes!

**for kidlets, have them punch holes all over the index cards and let them weave what they will. you can hand them a length of yarn about 18" to start and tape the end of it to the back of the card so they know when there is no more yarn to lace. let them begin by freeform lacing. once they get the hang of it, ask if they can make pictures, patterns or letters. using regular sized index cards keeps the project small and simple. you can even toss a mini lacing kit into your bag so they have something to do when you are out and about. instant craftiness!

new craft post: valentine {tea}

this is a wee project i used to do for friends and nervousness folk back in the day. such a treat to bring it out again in time for Valentine's Day! catch the details here at craftzine.com.