Fall Leaf Garland Tutorial

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As a girl on a budget, I've had to get creative and crafty when it comes to holiday decor.

Enter this little beauty from Pottery Barn Kids:

Adorable, right?

$59.

Slightly out of my budget.

So, my SIL knocked it off and I loved her version so much more that I took it a little further.

And so, I present to you, my Fall Leaf Garland Tutorial.

1. Gather your supplies.  You will need felt, embroidery thread, hot glue, and some twine (or other hanging material of your choice).  All of these things can be purchased at JoAnn's - get a coupon go crazy.  

For the felt, I would strongly recommend fall colors - deep red, gold, dark green, orange, brown, tan, etc.  You'll want to get some embroidery thread to match - I did dark green, golden yellow, brown and orange.

2. Print out leaf shapes

I found the leaf shapes I liked over at craftjr.com:

Print and cut these out on something sturdy like card-stock as they're going to get traced a bazillion times.  Don't cut out the stem - you just want the leaf shape.  On the elm leaf (the first one) don't cut out all the little scallops on the edge - just smooth that guy out.

3. Start tracing!  You're going to be tracing for a while, depending on how long you want to make your garland.  Mine's rather long - 26 leaves - so that means I had to trace 52 leaves.  Put on a tv show and go to town.  You're going to want even numbers of each kind of leaf and a variety of colors. 

4. Cut those leaves out!  Again, it's gonna take a while, so get another TV show going and enjoy!  Don't worry if the leaves aren't perfect - that's part of the charm!

5. Choose which leaves you want paired together and which leaf will go on top, and which on bottom.  Try brown with orange or green with gold or red with tan!  

6. Gather your "top leaves."  These are the leaves that are going to be altered slightly - some embroidered, some cut.  

This is the part I would say just have fun with!  Embroider some!  Cut some! 

Here are some examples to get you going (forgive me, I'm not a photographer):

7. Plug in that hot glue gun and start gluing your leaves together.  Glue the edges, not the center - especially on the leaves where you gut the insides. 

8. Glue your finished leaves to your twine.  Don't glue them all nice and even - set some of your leaves at angles.

And...

BAM!

You have a beautiful Fall Leaf Garland!

Enjoy!

This garland stays up at my house from mid-September until the Christmas decorations go up because it works all autumn long!

PS - You can also find me over at The Crafty Woman today :)