5 DIY Garlands Under $5 Each!!

2 Materials
$5
10 Minutes
Easy
Hey y’all, and thanks so much for stopping by! Today, I’m going to share with you how to make a variety of garlands, and they’re all under $5 each!! But before we begin, I wanted to remind you to follow along with me on Pinterest, HomeTalk, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, so you don’t miss another post! Also, if you’d like to see the live video I did on HomeTalk’s Facebook page regarding these exact garlands, click on the direct link below, which will take you to my blog post that has this video link. I hope you enjoy them! There’s an explanation on how to make each garland, plus you get to learn a few other techniques in this tutorial! icon
Okay, let's get started!






Garland 1: Arrow Garland
Supplies
  • 1 strip of balsa wood (found at most craft stores and use your coupon!) (size: 3/32 x 6 x 36)
  • black chalk paint
  • Decoupage
  • small sponge brush
  • pretty scrap paper
  • hole punch
  • jute twine


So, I used my awesome self-healing cutting mat, but of course, if you don’t have a cutting mat, you can get creative and do it all by hand.  Using a pencil, I measured my small arrows to be 2″ wide and my large arrows 4″ wide on the balsa wood.  This type of wood is SUPER easy to cut!  Then, I painted each small arrow with the black paint.  I used one large piece of scrap paper, and using the decoupage, I painted a thin layer on each piece of large arrow and immediately placed them on the paper, ensuring that they’re lined up evenly.  Afterwards, I spread a thin layer on top of the paper to add a protective layer of sealant.  I let all the arrows dry over night, and then cut the arrows that are covered with paper the next morning. One important thing to note is that the arrows want to curl ever so slightly when you paint the mod podge on, so to help flatten them, I placed each arrow under something heavy to help straighten the wood (once they were dry, of course). icon  Once you’ve cut the paper around the arrow edges, punch holes through the wood and then slide some twine through the holes for hanging.













Garland 2: Floral Garland
Supplies
  • faux flowers
  • jute twine
  • floral wire
First, hot glue some twine around and around…and around…your floral wire to make it look like a brown stem and to add a sort of grip for the flowers to stick to.  Pop flowers off the stems and then hot glue them to the twine/floral wire.  Continue this process until you’ve reached the length you’d like to have.













Garland 3: Fabric Garland (as seen in the pic above)
Supplies
  • variety of light-weight fabric (i.e. a variety of colors and/or prints)
  • coordinating yarn color


First, tear lots of 1″ strips of your fabric.  Then, fold each strip in half, and place under string.  Bring ends of fabric up and over the string and through the fabric hole at the top.  Pull tight and slide each strip closely together to add fullness to your garland. (It's kind of difficult to explain this technique, but if you watch the video, you'll understand it more clearly. But of course, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me or comment below, and I'll respond as soon as I can!)


Garland 4: Wrapping Paper Garland
Supplies
  • roll of wrapping paper
  • balsa wood
  • pretty trim
  • hot glue gun
  • scissors
  • matte decoupage


First, measure and cut the wood to form your preferred size of each pennant.  Next, paint mod podge onto each strip of wood. Immediately place the glued side of the wood on the inside of your paper.  Then, brush a thin layer of mod podge over the outside of your paper, which will act as a sealant.  Lastly, hot glue a coordinating trim to the top of your pennants to form a beautiful garland!







Garland 5: Tissue Paper Garland
Supplies
  • pretty tissue paper (I got a set of 8 sheets at the dollar tree.)
  • coordinating color of yarn
  • hot glue gun


Lay out your tissue paper in the order you’d like it to hang.  If you don’t have time to iron the creases (like me!),  use those folded edges to your advantage!  Fold the tissue paper along those edges to form your pennants, and then lightly hot glue the inside of each one to the yarn.  SO easy!  And if you’d like to take an additional step, make some yarn tassels to go in between each pennant (as seen in my live video -- link in my blog post at the bottom of this post)!












That's it! Five quick and easy DIY garlands!! I hope you’ve gained some inspiration for making your own!  These all were under $5 for me….Some were just pennies! Also, stop by and say hey on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and of course, my HomeTalk page.  It always makes my day to hear from my sweet readers!  Have a wonderful day!
Suggested materials:
  • Hot glue gun
  • Mod podge
The Rustic Boxwood
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Mary McDonald Mary McDonald on Mar 01, 2017
    I must be clueless but where do you hang your garlands? I've only ever seen garlands at parties and usually not that great looking. Yours are just so pretty!
  • Jod14307377 Jod14307377 on Mar 04, 2017
    As a disabled crafter with limited use of one hand, have you tried wrapping fresh flower stems around jute or nylon twine and gluing or fastening large flower heads with staples or paperclips? When we get to warmer months, I have more fresh flowers from lilacs to peonies to hydrangea than I know what to do with, poor me. Jodi McManus
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  • Bbunny42 Bbunny42 on May 17, 2019

    I'm thinking you could use the birthday/greeting cards we all save, cut strips or patterns from the front and make a garland from those.

  • Pamela Mulkey Pamela Mulkey on Sep 28, 2019

    These are very pretty! My favorite is the fabric garland. I think I’m going to do that one, but I’m going to use a set of battery operated twinkle lights for the garland base. Thanks for sharing!

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