Crafted Charm

Have you ever taken on a craft project that you thought you would NEVER finish? You were excited about it in the beginning, you know it's going to be beautiful, but the more you work on it, the longer it seems to take and you start to despair that it will never be done?

That is exactly how I felt about the garland I used at our wedding reception.

Pretty isn't it? I was inspired by a seller on Etsy who made garland with book pages and other papers. For our reception all our food was inside. Main food was the dining room and desserts and cupcakes (pictures coming soon) was in the living room. The house is so pretty as it is, so there was no reason to go over the top with decorating. I felt that using this garland would add some whimsy and make the house look special. It was a special occasion after all.

To make the garland I used:

• A heart shaped hole punch 
• A small hole punch
• Two shades of green scrapbook paper
• The pages of a dictionary I found at Goodwill
• Dental floss (yes, dental floss)

I began by using the heart hole punch to punch tons of green and dictionary page hearts. After I had heart hole punched to my heart's content, I used the small hole punch to put a hole in the upper corner of each sweet little heart. Then the really delicate part of the whole project came, stringing each heart onto the minty dental floss. For each heart, I strung one on, tied three knots in the dental floss, then added another heart and did the same. Though it sounds horribly tedious, I actually became like a garland making machine and could crank that garland out like it was no one's business. The more I made though, the more I felt the need to make more. First I was only going to hang it over the fireplace mantels, but with each strand I though of a new place to hang it from. The day of the wedding it was on each fireplace mantle, over each doorway, down the banister, and hanging overhead in the dining room. 

   I won't even share how many times it got tangled or the story of walking into my grandparents a week before the wedding to see my aunt and mom at the dining room table with a huge wad of tangle garland in front of them. "Elves did it" they told me. 

   In the end I was so pleased with how it turned out and in the end I only regretted that I hadn't made more. Who knows what all would have been covered in garland if I'd had just a few more months ;o)

My sweet Maid of Honor and the banister garland.

Photos by Jeff Scott of J. Darren Photography