Hello, beautiful friends! This little project was so fun and didn’t even involve a power tool. Back that up. I said no power tools AND it only took me one hour to put it together! I was asked to join a #onehourdiy challenge with a fun group of DIYers on IG so I decided to make a DIY Wood Bead Garland for Valentine’s Day. I am not big on going all out with Valentine decor, but I do have kids and like to add a touch of the little holidays in the house throughout the year. This was perfect for that. This garland could easily be crafted for other holidays, too. Instead of hearts you could use stars for 4th of July or Christmas or any other variation of little wooden cutouts.
Supplies:
-Package of Wood Beads – I bought these
-Package of small wooden hearts
-Yarn
-Ribbon
-Croche thread
-Craft paint any color combination you like
-Spray Bottle
-craft adhesive
-Wooden skewers or dowels
-Hot glue
-Tape or an upholstery needle (which is what I used) to get the thread into those little hole in the beads
How to make:
1 // Separate the wooden beads by size into different bowls as well as the wooden hearts. Then place them in a line in the pattern you choose to get the layout right and to see how many beads you will be using for your garland. Once you decide on your pattern, place your unused beads aside. Keeping them separated, place the beads you just laid out into empty bowls by size. This will be the exact number of beads you will paint. **TIP** Take a photo of the pattern you created so you can recreate it after all the beads are painted.
2 // Use a paper bowl for each color and place some of the paint in a bowl. Add a little water at a time with the spray bottle to get a good consistency; it doesn’t take much. The water will allow the beads to easily roll around in the paint and give good coverage. Don’t add too much water or it will take a long time for the paint to dry.
3 // Figure out which color you want to use for which size of beads and add ALL of the beads into each color of paint. Using your skewer, stir around the beads until they are all well coated. Take your time so they don’t jump out of the bowl. Then stick the end of the skewer or dowel into the hole of the beads, one by one, and place them onto the cardboard to dry.
4// While the beads are drying, paint the wooden hearts with white paint with a small sponge brush. You don’t need to water down this paint. Craft paint dries really fast and since there has not been any water added to the paint it will dry while all the beads are drying as well. While all the beads and hearts are drying, create the tassels.
5 // Take the yarn and cut enough strips for two tassels and cut them about 12″ long. Then layer two strips each of the thin ribbon per tassel. Fold it all in half take a piece of the crochet thread and tie off the top of the “tassel” about 1 1/2″ down from the top of the fold. Leaving a loop in this space will allow for you to attach the tassels to the garland.
6 // Thread the beads. Cut a piece of the crochet thread the length you want your garland to be and leave PLENTY of extra thread to mess with at the end. Loosely tie a spare bead to the end of the thread to create a stop for the beads.
7 // For the wooden hearts you will double those up glueing the two back together over the thread. Add a few beads to the thread. Add glue to the back side of one heart, place the thread over the glue, add glue to another heart and place the backside over the thread so the thread sits between both hearts. Repeat the process.
8 // Remember that photo of your garland pattern? Pull it up and start to add the beads accordingly. This is where the upholstery needle comes in really handy and makes this really go fast! Once you get to the end of the garland, tie the remaining thread through the loop at the top of the tassel and knot off. Untie the stop bead at the other end and add the other tassel.
Take another strand of yarn for each tassel and wrap around the top and hot glue the end of that yarn in place.
This was such a fun little project. I decorated a chalk board that I have with a Valentine theme and layered the garland over that. If you follow me at all on Instagram you know how BIG my projects have been so it was nice just to sit down and create something from beginning to end in an hour. Next time I would make the beads a little bigger and also use a more muted paint like a water color. I have seen craft paint in watercolor and would love to try it. Or add a little less paint and a little more water to make the colors just faintly on the beads. If you make this for any holiday, I would love to know! If you have made a wooden bead garland yourself, let me know in the comments below. Have a wonderful week and a Happy Valentine’s Day!
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