DIY THANKSGIVING GARLAND

Sorry to be so late in adding this festive Thanksgiving garland.  Sadly, my computer has been in the computer hospital for about 10 days and my blogging was done using a combination of an ancient laptop, borrowing my husband's computer and a netbook. Sort of a modern day version of putting things together with bailing wire and string.  Anyway after a reformatted hard drive (ouch!) I am back in business and keeping my fingers crossed to stay that way.

Very simple little garland for Thanksgiving and it comes together very quickly as I decided to not use any glue on this, only mini-clothes pins and double stick tape.

There is no right or wrong with this garland, pick out graphics you like and print them out in various sizes, cut them out and decorate anyway you want and attach to a 4.5 foot length of festooning. The festooning has been on a roll and will need to be "fluffed" by running it through your hands one-way and then the other.

I used the following: 1 big graphic (4.5x5.9), 4 lg graphics (mine were approx 2.8x5.6), 6 round, 4 square, 12 small and 6 medium.  This is just the way I did it but you can print out any size and number of graphics that you like. Mini-clothes pins, Small clothes pins with felt leaves, a roll of brown festooning, ribbon for big bow, ribbon to adhere to the festooning on the large cards, cotton twine, acorn bells, fall leaves, dbl sided tape, a pipe cleaner, card stock, scissors and finally two little cinnamon brooms to add to the ends (just 'cause they smell so darned good).

Cut a 4.5 foot length of festooning and then using the cotton twine make a loop and attach to the ends of the festooning this will be your loops for hanging the garland.

These are the four larger and the one big graphic for the front.  After cutting these out adhere them to some coordinating color cardstock (I used dbl sided tape to adhere), trim the cardstock so that you have a tag (all the better to attach to the garland) and then cut a little of the festooning and add to the bottom (optional) and then cut a length of coordinating ribbon and attach with the dbl sided tape and if your ribbon is too narrow for the tape just fold the tape against itself and put on the ribbon and then press firmly into the festooning.

Once this is done, put the large graphic in the middle, put one on each end and then put the last ones in the middle of the half of the garland.  Then just start adding all the other graphics.  I did not tie any of these on, I used the mini-clothes pins and they went on very quickly.

To make the bow for the middle just take a length of ribbon and loop it to make a bow and then using the pipe cleaner clamp it together to hold firmly.  After tying the ribbon use the extra pipe cleaner to then thread on the acorn bells, pull it tight and after you have attached the garland to whatever surface you desire you can then add the bow with the acorn bells in the center.  Lastly, add the cinnamon brooms to the ends - I did not attach them to the garland, they come with a loop and I just put them over the same little nail that the garland is attached to on the ends.

A note about graphics.  One of the best places to find graphics is on Google Images.  If you Google "Vintage Thanksgiving Images" and then click on images many will come up but not all of them are okay to use.  If they are watermarked or copyrighted it is not okay to use them.  Many vintage images no longer have a copyright and are fine to use.  Many images if  you click on them will take you to where you may purchase them and many will say free, okay to use. Etsy is a very good place to purchase good images that people have worked hard to create and are sold at a reasonable price and usually the seller will allow use for items to sell at craft fairs, etc. They just do not want you to use their image as though it was yours for sale, etc. The seller will state their policy.

Resource:

Mini-clothes pins, Hobby Lobby
Small clothes pins with felt leaves, Michael's
Brown Festooning, Etsy sellers, can find on Ebay and craft sellers
Ribbon for big bow, Costco
Ribbon for larger graphics, Michael's
Acorn Bells, Michael's
Fall Leaves, $ Store
Cinnamon Brooms, Trader Joe's
Draw program, Corel Draw x6
Large Thanksgiving Graphic, MarysMontage on Etsy