We’re in a bit of an odd season right now. As we approach mid-November, Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and Christmas is just out of reach. It feels weird to have pumpkins out, yet it feels weirder to start decking the halls. So why not fill in the time with some Thanksgiving themed decor?
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t start doing anything Christmas themed until Thanksgiving is over and done with. It’s not that I don’t love Christmas, it’s just I firmly believe everything has its time and place, so why rush it? I’ll get nearly an entire month to thoroughly celebrate the Christmas season and I’m more than content with that. To those of you who already have their Christmas trees up, this post may not be for you (if you’re still reading this far, anyway).
Today I found myself wanting to incorporate something Thanksgiving themed, dare I say fall themed, into the apartment. I browsed a bit on Etsy and saw that most of the decorations were something I could do myself. And that’s how I ended up with this adorable little garland that will tide me over to the holiday season. If you have kids, this is definitely the type of activity I imagine they’ll love. I mean, I’m a grown woman and I had fun with it. And it’s so easy!
First, gather a few items:
- Cardboard (I used an empty box from Amazon I had laying around)
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Acrylic Paints (I chose classic foliage colors: brown, red, orange, and yellow). I picked up a few bottles from Michaels.
- Flat, Wide Paintbrush
- Newspaper (crafting is messy by nature)
- Sewing Needle
- Thread
Now that you have everything you need, its time to get crafting!
- Draw outlines of leaves onto a flat piece of cardboard. Just keep in mind: the more complex the leaf, the harder it will be to cut out neatly.
- Cut out twenty leaves (give or take, depending on how big you want your garland to be).
- Get out that newspaper. It’s painting time! Paint all leaves with your choice of colors. Giving each leaf two coats of paint hides any pencil marks or cardboard color underneath. I decided to paint both sides of the leaf, just in case I wanted to hang my garland where you could see both sides.
- Let leaves fully dry.
- Get out that thread and needle. Attach the thread to your needle and puncture the upper most part of your first leaf. Go in, and then create another hole, right next to your original one, with the thread following through to come back out on the original side. repeat once more to create a secure hold. (Check out the picture down below to get a visual if that makes no sense).
- Repeat until you have a lovely little string of leaves!
That’s all to it. I hope you can find a little free time to create this fun little garland, just in time for the Thanksgiving festivities.
So cute