We’re on the home stretch guys; December is around the corner, my advent calendar is ready and waiting, and tomorrow, after a year in storage, I’ll be putting up the Christmas decorations. I’m so excited. No joke – I love this time of year and as soon as that first garland has been strung up, it’ll start to feel the holidays. Best. Feeling. Ever.
And as if all of that wasn’t thrilling enough, this year I’m sharing one of my handmade decorations in Merry Mag! It’s awesome to once again be a part of this collaboration of talented makers, brought together by the amazing Melissa from The Sweet Escape. If you love creating, decorating, food, drink or heck, if you just love Christmas, make sure you check out the magazine for page after page of festive fun.
Materials
- Leather scraps
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Acrylic paint pen
- Craft glue or tacky glue
Step 1
With a ruler and a pencil, measure and mark out long rectangles on your scraps of leather. The longer the rectangle, the larger the links in your chain garland will be; as a guide, my rectangles measured around 2cm x 14cm (1 inch x 5.5 inches).
Step 2
Once you’ve marked up your rectangles, cut them out with a pair of scissors.
Step 3
Start adding patterns to each leather rectangle with your acrylic paint pen. I stuck to simple polka dots and dashes, but you can go nuts here and draw on anything you like. 🙂
Step 4
Flip one of your rectangles over so that the patterned side is face down. Apply a bit of glue to one end, then fold the leather over so that it forms a loop with the ends stuck together. This will be the first link in your chain.
Step 5
Insert the next leather piece through the first loop you made and glue the ends together so it forms a second loop.
Keep adding leather loops until you’ve created a chain garland that’s long enough for you to hang. Then simply string it up and enjoy!
Now before you go forth and start making loops out of all your leather, I should warn you that this garland requires quite a few scraps to make a suitably long chain. But given that you can reuse it again and again for all kinds of parties, I think it’s totally worth it! Just make sure you have plenty of leather scraps in your arsenal before you start crafting. 🙂
Also, if you’re feeling a bit creative, why not try experimenting with other shades of leather and various coloured paint pens for a totally different look? I have a feeling white pen on black leather would be very striking (that just might be next on my list of things to make). 😉
Oh, and don’t forget to check out the rest of the projects in Merry Mag – it’s full of brilliant festive ideas to get you all set for the holidays.
xx Steph