14 Days of Valentine's Gifts - Day 4:

Photo Garland

by Beshka Kueser, LM Design Team

Valentine (or Anytime) Photo Garland

Making Memories has a fun Garland Photo Décor Kit that inspired my latest craft adventure. J I wanted to make a valentine garland with photos of my little family, but at the same time wanted something I could leave up beyond the Valentine Holiday. This project was quick & easy.

Supplies:

3 yards of ribbon for the garland & smaller pieces of ribbon to tie on your garland décor {I used MM Cheeky Gathered Pink Ribbon, the teal bead string is a leftover from the holidays, and ½” brown satin ribbon}

Creative Imagination BE Dasher Ornament Oval Frames

Basic Grey: Blush {romance - tease - admire}

Making Memories Cheeky Clip Board Brites

Making Memories cardstock tags

Heidi Swapp Raw 2 piece Chipboard Alphabet

45 minutes of free time

The “How-To” Part:

1) Get your garland ready for decorating. Take the 3 yards of ribbon, use a clip or a family member to hold an end because you are going to braid the 3 yards. {Chad wanted me to note that he helped with this!} Braid the 3 yards and clip the ends until you are sure of the length you want. Set aside.

2) Time to get your frames ready. Decide on what photos you want & how many. Take your patterned paper and glue it to the front of the frame. You can do 1 of 2 things, you can trace your frame onto the paper, cut it out, & then glue it onto your frame. Or, you can do what I did, which is glue it on straight away & use an exacto knife to trim the excess. Once the glue has dried insert your photo and seal the frame closed. Make sure you still have a hole at the top for pulling your ribbon through. You may need to use a paper piercer to punch through the added paper.

3) Now to work on what you want your garland to say. I painted the word “love” using some raw chipboard alphas. I used 2 colors of paint on my word that went with my papers & used paper behind two of them to accent the letters as well. When the paint & glue dried I used a paper piercer to put holes in the top of my letters for my ribbon.

4) Tie it on! Once you have the basic elements ready, you will want to thread the ribbon onto your frames and chipboard letters & tie them onto your garland.

5) The fun part, ACCENTS! For my accents I cut out some hearts with deco scissors and rubbed on words of affection. I punched holes in them with a hole punch and added them to my garland with ribbon. I also used clips, little tags, and more ribbon to add little fun bits to it and Ta-Da. J

6) The End. As for your ends…I knotted mine at the end of the braids leaving some excess ribbon to hang down.