Ribbon Chain Garland

This post is a little late for fall and Thanksgiving but you know how it is! Time flies when you are having fun! I have a ton of decor for Halloween and almost as much for Christmas. It seems like the month between Halloween and the Christmas season just seems to speed by for me. So Thanksgiving seems to get the shaft a little bit in my home. Leftover pumpkins and handprint turkeys are the extent of the decorations around here. I decided to remedy that and add a couple of garlands this year. I made a pom pom garland. Which was crazy easy so I won't even go into details about it. The one I am most excited about is a ribbon chain garland! 

Did you make paper chains as a kid? I loved making them. I would make them and then take them apart and trash them and start over. This ribbon chain garland will last for years hopefully!

Supplies:

craft glue

coordinating ribbon

I used 3 spools of 1 and 1/2" ribbon. The glue I used was Elmers Craft Bond glue. I actually wouldn't recommend this glue. It says quick dry but it definitely wasn't. When I make another for Christmas I will probably use fabric-tac or a good old glue gun. 

The strips of ribbon are cut to about 7 inches long. After all the cutting was said and done I ended up with 15 strips of each color.  

After that I put a thick line of Craft Bond and made the first loop. You want to make sure that you use enough glue. The brown grosgrain ribbon seemed to just soak up the glue so it needed a much healthier line of glue. The seam is just overlapped. I didn't do any fancy overlapping to try and hide it. The ribbon loops can be turned once it is hung so the seam is in the back, am I right?

Yay three loops! Now all you have to do is loop them through each other and wah-lah!

This is what I mean about the seam. I just cut glue and stuck. Easy Peasy. After you have looped all your ribbon together, let it dry overnight. Just to make sure it is 100% dry.

Oh I love how it turned out. I am thinking of making another with thin ribbon to layer with this one and of course there are Christmas ones coming. It went together fast and it was a total bargain. The cost with the glue was less than 10 dollars. That's my kind of craft! 

Do you like to make your holiday decor? We'd love to see any posts or instagram pics of your DIY holiday decor! Tag us @ramonaavenue! Or leave a link to your post in the comments.

Peace out! -AnneMarie 

Eyeball Wreath-A Halloween Craft Tutorial

I saw this idea on pinterest and when I found the Halloween colored googly eyes at Michael's it became a must do! 

I think it turned out so cute!  Here is what I did.....

YOU WILL NEED

1 14 inch wreath form

6 yards approx of 1.5 inch white ribbon

 (if you spring for the white form you might not need the ribbon)

90 ping pongs

90 googly eyes

a low temp glue gun 

low temp glue sticks

First I enlisted my Gabby Girl (hey many hands make for light work) and as she glued the googly eyes onto the ping pong balls, I wrapped the wreath with the white ribbon. Once the ribbon was wrapped and glued to the wreath form, I glued the ping pongs onto the wreath fitting them as close as I could to each other. I did find that it was necessary to hold some of them on long enough for the glue to cool or they would slide down but other than that this is a straight forward easy fun Halloween craft!!

Give it a shot!!

LOVES

Emily

I love a good makeover!

I have been thinking a lot about making smarter choices in my home decor lately. I have always been of the opinion that if I love something it must mean that I should put it in my house. And that really hasn't changed. However, I am now starting to want my home to be a little more cohesive. A little more intentional if you will. Maybe it is age? Who knows? So with that in mind I have chosen a color palette. If I am being totally honest that was just a coincidence. The colors of choice have been black and gold. I love the combo. I can't get away from it! This is a little re-do of a favorite art print to better reflect my family.

This is a print I purchased a while back from 20x200. I made the mat and painted the frame gold. And I loved it! Now? Not so much. But I still love the print. So I decided to make it a little bit more our current style. I wanted to cover a photo mat with gold leaf but it is crazy expensive so I improvised. I used gold candy wrappers!  

My supplies: elmers glue, black paint, poster board, gold candy wrappers and paint brushes. Of course scissors and a exacto knife also. To start I cut a new mat out of a poster board using the old mat as a guide.

I found that if you leave the candy wrappers flat and smooth the seams are much more noticeable. Which is not pretty. So I crumpled them up.

Then flattened them back out. After that I basically just glued the wrappers onto the new mat layering as I went. To finish it off I wrapped the wrappers around the mat. The glue left the bright gold wrapper a little dull. So I used a shiny spray sealant to shine it back up and seal the wrappers. I am not totally positive that this is an archival friendly project so I left my print in the plastic sleeve it came in. To finish it off I painted the frame black. Easy Peasy!

Ta-da! I am excited with how it turned out. I must admit that it doesn't really look like gold leaf but I love it!