I am loving the idea of pieces that can be changed throughout the year. DIY Season/Holiday Changeable Beaded Garland is an inexpensive and easy way to change up your garland with the holidays and seasons without spending a fortune.
I have wanted some beaded garland since moving into this home that has a fireplace. However it is costly to buy or to make a different one for each holiday and I simply could not choose only one holiday or season. This was my solution.
(Short YouTube video tutorial here on my Lovensthelife Channel.)
Ok…..Let’s Create!
Supplies List
- Wooden color your own ornaments (Dollar Tree)
- Halloween I used witch hats and jack-o-lanterns
- Christmas I used trees and trucks with trees
- Fall / Thanksgiving- I used leaves and pumpkins
- Ribbon – I used a burlap ribbon
- Wooden Beads – most natural with a few painted
- I used floral foam and skewers to make the painting easier
- Twine
- Gourd pins
- Jump rings
- Paint
- Tacky Glue
- Scissors
- Scotch tape
Instructions
String it
First I grabbed twine to figure out how long I needed the garland. I am such a visual person it is really hard for me to just measure. I have to see it on the fireplace. Where the hooks would be drilled to hang the garland, I taped an end of the twine.
Once I had it hung from one end to the other with tape, I marked, using tape, where I wanted the decorations to start hanging on each end.
Before I got started on beading the garland I did a little planning since I needed to place the jump rings between the beads. You could use the jump rings that you can pull apart which would free you from this planning stage. My preference are the ones that do not open as I always have problems with the ones that do open slipping off the string. Either type will get the job done though.
I planned for 7 ornaments total which is where I needed to place jump rings. Ornament 1 & 7 were planned already with tape from above so I measured the distance between the two. I had 63 inches between ornament 1 & 7 but to make math easy I just planned 60 inches. 7 ornaments would need 6 spaces so each space would be 10 inches which worked out to be roughly 16 beads.
Once I had my plan I started beading. The holes on these beads were large enough to just place them on the twine. So I would add 16 beads, jump ring, 16 beads, jump ring until I had my 7 jump rings on it.
My toddler thought this was great fun and that it was a very large necklace. I had to quickly bead him a necklace to wear so he would quit trying to wear the garland.
Once I had the 7 jump rings and beads on the garland I added 8 beads to each end so I would have beads strung the length of the front of my fireplace.
Once that was done I added strips of cut burlap ribbon between the jump rings so between bead 8 and 9 in each section.
Then I tied off the ends with a button to keep the beads from falling off the ends.
Painting the Beads & Ornaments
For the ornaments, my goal was to add color but lightly so you could see the wood grain. To do this, I added a little water to the paint before painting it onto the wooden ornaments. I painted the sides first and then both front and back of the ornament since both sides may be seen depending on how they are hanging. Some required more than one coat, some didn’t.
I decided to only add one painted bead to each ornament with one natural bead in addition on some. I used the same paint to water mixture. For coat one I dipped the beads right into the mixture. I then placed them on a skewer stuck in floral foam to dry. I ended up doing at least one more coat with a brush which wasn’t bad with them up on the skewers.
Ornament Making
Next, I put together each individual ornament. My toddler helped of course.
I used the twine pieces that came with the ornaments on most of them. I folded it in half and loop knotted it through the hole. Then I added the gourd pin securing it on with a knot in the twine.
I then trimmed the excess and with Tacky Glue I secured it so it wasn’t sticking out. I initially planned to add ribbon on the ornaments as well but ended up liking the simplicity of the gourd pins and twine.
Another tying option. These required a longer piece of twine than what came with the ornaments so I started by cutting that. The problem on some of the ornaments was that the the bead slid down over part of the wooden cutout. To avoid that I looped twine through the bead and tied the twine, then did the same on the opposite side of the bead and tied that twine. These only got the one bead but I really like the looped twine look.
Once the glue is dry you can simply attach the gourd pin on the ornament to the jump rings on the beaded garland. That’s a quick way to change up your garland for the season.
For easy storage and to keep the 7 for each season/holiday together I put them on a binder ring.
I am already thinking about ornaments for Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, Easter, and the 4th of July. Hopefully I can find the color your own ornaments for each of those as they roll around. I have also already started a winter set with snowflakes.
Done.
Which is your favorite?
Your Turn to Create
I would love to hear if you gain inspiration from this post and make your very own DIY Season/Holiday Changeable Beaded Garland
