Archives for November 2012

WHO LOVES A PROJECT?!

Well, goodness, I think everyone loves a good project every now and again.

But the real question for this post is WHO LOVES A GLITTER PROJECT?

I DO.

And ultimately, I think you do too.

A necessary precaution: Before you start this insanity of a project that is glitter garland you must come to terms with the fact that once you commit to a glitter project, you will ultimately be committing to a lifelong marriage with glitter. Or, at least, a week-long marriage. Which is just as serious in my humble opinion.

And so, lest you forget, you must remind yourself that glitter is amazing. When you’re elbow deep in glitter, just keep telling yourself that.

Anyways, onward!

+

HOW TO MAKE GLITTER GARLAND >>

You will need:

cardstock
scissors
modge podge glue
foam brush
glitter (!!)
measuring tape
fishing line (or clear craft string)
glue gun

Instructions:

Step 1: Get cardstock paper.

Step 2: Figure out what size you want your circles to be. I basically just found a candle lid that I thought was an appropriate size (4 inches across) and traced it on the cardstock.

Step 3: Decide how many garland strands you want to make. I made 8 because I made the craaaazy decision to dress up my entire dining room (it looks awesome P.S.). For my project, each single strand of garland had 5 glitter circles.

Step 4: Once you decide how many glitter circles you want on your garland, cut out double that many circles. So, for me, one garland had five glitter circles, so I cut out 10 circles of cardstock. Understood?

side note: Since I made 8 strands of garland, the math tells me I cut a total of 80 circles. Which is insanity. TGFDC. (Thank God For Dawson’s Creek. Netflix, people. DO IT.)

Step 5: Take one piece of circle cardstock and paint one side of it with modge podge (only one side– and don’t skimp on the edges!), then press the cardstock to the glitter. I put the glue and the glitter into paper plates (see below) to make it easy. I also had an extra paper plate for spreading the glue onto the cardstock. Once you’ve painted one side and doused it with glitter, put it to the side to dry.

Step 6: After you paint and glitter-up all your cardstock you should have a bunch of circles that have glitter on one side. THIS IS GOOD. I got better and better with applying the glitter the more I did this. By the end, there we no white spots on my circles at all. HUZZAH.

Step 7: Decide how long you want your garland to be and cut a piece of fishing line accordingly. Mine was approx 100 inches long, or so. Maybe a little longer.

Step 8: Use a glue gun to glue two of the cardstocks together (with the fishing line in the middle!), obviously, with the glitter side facing out. Putting two cardstocks together will keep the paper from curling at the sides and keep your circles nice and straight.

Step 9: Figure out how much space should go in between each glitter circle. I put approx 15 inches between each of mine.

Step 10: Once you have all your circles glued together and spaced out accordingly, hang that sucker up! It will look awesome!

I kept going to make a total of 8 garland. It was a LOT of work and a LOT of glitter, but ultimately it was worth it.

Check it:

Tada! And the picture doesn’t even do it justice. Seriously. I should have you all over for a glass of wine just to show it off. December hasn’t even arrived and it’s getting to be so Christmas up in here it’s CRAZY. When it comes to the holidays, I don’t mess around.

Three cheers for glitter + HAPPY DECORATING!

+

(A note on this project. I saw this picture on Pinterest, which led me to this etsy shop, which was all sold out of this particular type of garland. And so, this DIY was born.)