OOOh, I REALLY like what I have to share with you guys today!! It turned out so adorable, I know I'll be making these for every party I can in the next few months. Welcome back to the Procrastinating Crafter's guide to (quick) Christmas Glam, my December blog series on super-practical, inexpensive ideas for getting some of that handmade magic infused in your holiday season in no time flat–using mostly things you probably have around the house already!
I've seen these paper circle garlands around online, but never sat down to make one myself. Last night I did, and I LOVED how super fast it was and how totally adorable it looked. All you do is punch or die-cut a ton of random circle sizes, and then sew them together with a running stitch, feeding them into the machone one right after the other. That's IT. No hole-punching, no endless stringing, no hardware needed… and it uses up about a bajillion and a half (actual count) scraps that you would otherwise have to feel guilty about pitching.
My garland went together in literally about twenty minutes from start to finish. I have the Circle #2 die for the Big Shot, so I was able to cut four circles at a time, and four layers of Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Papers at a time, for a total of sixteen circles with one crank-through. But if you don't have that die, or heaven forbid you don't have a Big Shot yet (gracious, call me quick!!) you can just use a variety of circle punches. I also punched a lot of different sizes of scallops, and I even threw in some Real Red and Champagne Glimmer Paper ones to bling it up a little.
Sorry the photo's only of a section of the 12-foot garland I made… yes, twelve feet of garland in less than a half hour!… but that little window corner is about the only part of my house that is presentable right now. Everything else is a roaring disaster. I'd explain why, but my to-do list is three miles long (and that's just for this morning). So I need to scoot, but I will see you back here tomorrow for Day Eight of the PCG series. If you want to play along, you'll need the stiff cardboard backing (not chipboard) from a pack of Designer Series Paper for Saturday's project. See you later!
This is adorable and I wanted to make one ’til I read the word “stitched”. I think I’ll leave that to you! 🙂
Yes! thank you so much for sharing this. I have a bunch of leftover fabric circles from another project that I’ve been wondering what to do with. I think I’ll back them with felt and stitch them together into a garland. You are awesome!
Love this! I have scraps of the Candlelight Christmas DSP (is that the right name?) and this project is perfect for them.
Do you think this could be hand sewn? I don’t have a machine.
This project looks AWESOME! I am going to try to craft with “my” kids on Sunday! I now have my project!
Kate, you could, but it would take quite a long time. You might want to do just two or three big stitches per circle then to help it go faster.
One other tip I thought of is that once you’ve sewn with paper instead of fabric, you need to change your needle before you do fabric again. You can keep the old one and use it over and over again for paper, though!
how cute is that!!!!