How to Make a Sweet Garland in just 3 Easy Steps

I am a HUGE fan of my projects serving a purpose in my home. I love when something I have creating can serve multiple purposes, it is kind of like multiple projects all wrapped into one! This tree garland is one of those projects... After the holidays this can easily be used in my daughters room decor all year long.

SUGAR PLUM TREE GARLAND

SUPPLIES:

Smoothfoam 1.5 inch balls
scraps of fabric in 1/8th to 1/4 INCH strips (these will be super thin)
glue gun for foam
scraps of lace, tulle and muslin for the spacers
optional: Clear thread

TIP: For this project, I used scraps of clearance fabric. This fabric was on clearance for $4 a yard at my local craft store, I maybe needed 1/8th of a yard so that puts each cut at about $0.50 each.

Step 1 Create Fabric Balls: (This is super duper easy...)
take your fabric and cut it into 1/8 to 1/4 strips. You can traditional cut with scissors or rip it for frayed edges. NOTE: try and keep your fabric strips thin as this will wrap easier.

 

Glue one end of your fabric to your foam ball. I used a foam hot glue gun to prevent melting. This works great to keep the fabric secured your your foam.

Wrap fabric around your foam ball until covered. You can cut and reposition your fabric and can glue down any rough edges as you go. This is why having thin pieces of fabric works best. the thicker the width, the more likely you are to get puckers of fabric you will have to glue down.

 Here is what the fabric looks like if it is too wide, I had to glue down the right side pucker.

Here is what it looks like when the fabric strips are thinner, creating a smoother application.

Step 2 Add filler fabric

For this I simple took 1x12 inch strips of white lace, muslin and sparkly glittered tulle and created "swags" in between each of the fabric covered balls.

TIP: Glue all three fabric edges together before attaching them to your balls.

You have two options on how to attach your fabric you your balls.

1. You can sew them with a tapestry needle and transparent thread
   
   
   
2. You can hot glue gun them together

Once you have one end of your fabric trio glued to your first ball, lightly braid or twist your fabric allowing all of the fabrics to show.

Continue this till you have one continuous strand of garland (make sure to add fabric to both ends anchoring your garland with fabric to hang if needed).

Step 3 EMBELLISH!

This is my favorite step! Add scraps of tulle, netting, sequin fabric or any colorful fun trim you can find. I used scraps that I have had in my stash for a while. The basic idea is that you want to add depth and texture to your garland through different types of fabric.

I LOVE the way this turned out and I extremely LOVE the fact that it can be used year round since I didn't use traditional holiday colors. The nice thing is that as you go to create your own garland you can add WHATEVER you want in WHATEVER color you want. This project is totally versatile and customizable to YOUR needs :)

The Smoothfoam balls I used were nice and light weight, didn't shed and kept their shape well during construction.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Liz Hicks ♥

Yummy recipe for the holidays~

(Argh you blogger!!! the pics are backwards, but I think you can get the idea!)

I have pics for two recipes, today's will be my favorite and totally yummy Garlic Mashed Potatoes. This recipe is super simple and absolutely a crowd favorite. There are definitely NO fat free, but in moderation... these are the best!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients needed:

5 lb package of Rose potatoes or baby red potatoes

(1) stick of butter (1/2 a cup)

(1) 8 oz container of sour cream

2-3 Tbsp of minced garlic ( I used Christopher Ranch which stays fresh nicely!)

Lawry's Seasoning Salt

First start by cleaning your potatoes. I peel and core out the eyes of mine, but you can keep a little peel in them if you'd like ( a little peel never hurt anyone!)

after you have your clean, peeled potatoes, cut them into quarters or depending on the size you can vary the portion as long as the pieces are about 1 inch to 2 inch cubes. cutting down the potatoes helps to cook them faster. Next, add your potatoes to boiling water, you will want enough to cover the potatoes. Cook until tender (about 20 minutes). You will want to make sure that you cook the potatoes all the way through as it helps when you mash them!

After you potatoes are cooked, drain and dry off the excess water. Begin mashing with a potato masher. From there add the butter, then the sour cream, garlic and season with Lawry's seasoning salt to taste. Mash until the potatoes are smooth and creamy and all the ingredients are blended. You can garnish with a little seasoning salt on top before you table the potatoes.

So there is a quick easy and impressive recipe to give you a nice holiday start! This recipe is a version of potatoes that I concocted to mimic a recipe from one of the restaurants that I used to work at. I use to love tasting yummy food and trying to figure out the recipe! I am sure there are plenty of other versions of this, so please feel free to share your favorites on this link! Also these are super yummy the next day covered in Cheese and bacon!!! I know totally fattening, but soooo good!

enjoy!

Joy to the world~

I saw Noel do this really cool JOY spelled out with Torrie and Emma, I couldn't resist this pic when I saw the girls curled up together. I manipulated the y a bit but the rest is just good models!

it is a far stretch but I needed to practice before I tried it with my kids~

hope this makes you laugh!