I’m excited to share this post with you as I love making things with paper, I do it a lot! My love for paper began when I got a job working for a stationery design company and had to make a lot of things by hand.
Over the past few years, I’ve learned it’s a lot easier and cheaper to make certain things yourself rather than to buy them! In this post I’ll show you how to make a paper garland that you would pay more than $5 for at a store (for even the simplest one).
But before I show you, I want to tell you a little bit about birthday celebrations in my house (because this garland was obviously made for a birthday). Birthdays were never a big deal in my family. Our celebration was my mother making our favorite foods at home and us eating together as a family. There were never any big parties or presents. My parents made sure we did things in the simplest of manners. My father always tried to teach us to live by the example of our Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) who lived a life of moderation and simplicity.
Now one would ask, if I ever felt left out. And to that I would say, yes, sometimes I did. It’s only natural when you see in your classroom parents bringing cupcakes for the whole class because it’s their kid’s birthday. Or when you get invited to a birthday party which meant gifts and cake for the the birthday boy or girl. Who wouldn’t want to be showered with attention and gifts?
“What if you had a party and someone couldn’t afford to bring you a gift but felt they had to because that is what you do. We shouldn’t put anyone in an uncomfortable position.” These are the things I would get told when I’d question my parents. They would tell me to celebrate by praying and thanking God for the life I had been given and for more good and healthy years ahead.
At the end of the day I think I was content with the answers and in the way my parents did things. Plus, as I get older, I feel that perhaps we should celebrate our mothers on this day since they are the ones who actually gave birth to us. lol
As an adult, I do go out with friends on birthdays and they treat me from time to time and vice versa. But it isn’t something we have to do every year. Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don’t and we’re okay with that.
Now, this brings me to my four beautiful nieces. It’s such a game changer when you have nieces and nephews because you want any excuse to celebrate them and give them gifts and make them happy! So on their birthdays, we still try to keep it simple. I usually bake cookies or cakes with the older ones because they enjoy that very much and would prefer that over store bought sweets! And we all try to have a nice dinner together as a family when possible. Also, the creative side of me wants to set up a photoshoot and document the day, which is exactly what I did on the day my niece turned one!
The things I bought that day were a few balloons and a cupcake. I made a paper garland that said “ONE” and set up a little area in my backyard to take some photos of her. My sister loves taking photos and so for this post, I have to credit her in taking some of them!
So now, here is how I made the garland.
What you need:
-4 pieces of card stock paper (2 green and 2 black or whatever colors your heart desires)
-gold sharpie
-thread
-tape
-paper cutter (or scissors)
What you do:
1. Cut the paper into 4×5 inch pieces
2. Mark the half way point of the 4 inch side.
3. Cut diagonally from the corner of the other side (that isn’t marked) to the half inch mark. You should now have a triangle. Do the same to all the 4×5 pieces.
4. Take a gold sharpie and write out the letters. One letter per piece.
5. Line them up on a table (preferably a big and spacious milk) backwards. For example since I spelled out the letter “ONE” I would arrange them like ENO. Then flip them over so you see the back.
6. Cut out a long piece of string, way longer than the length of all the triangles when you put them together.
7. Lay string towards the top over the pieces of paper, cut pieces of tape and tape the string to the triangles. If you want you can also use glue for this part, you will just have to wait until it dries to use it which takes time. I use tape when I need it done fast.
I have an awesome fence in my backyard, which became perfect for this purpose!
So what do you think? Isn’t it the easiest thing ever?
17 Comments
Great post! And for sure something I’m going to refer to when I’m making banners for a bachelorette party in a month! (Woo hoo!) It doesn’t seem to hard at all, thank you for making DIY much less intimidating 🙂
It’s not hard at all, let me know how it goes if you make it!! 🙂
This is absolutely gorgeous! I wish I had this tutorial before making my own wedding decorations (^^)
Thank you! Aww yea, it’s super easy and you can always do it in the future for other kinds of parties! 😉
Wow, I can’t believe how simple this is! I’m definitely going to do this for birthdays, showers, etc.!
Yea, I couldn’t believe how simple it was too when I first started to figure it out. I hope you do try and let me know how it went. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Always wondered how to make my own paper garlands. Now that I have seen your article, beats trying to figure out things on our own. Thanks for sharing and love your photos!
Glad I’ve helped you figure it out! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
It is so easy and cute! Love that!
Thank you!
Well done Tay, what a brillant idea that turned out absolutely lovely! You’re little niece is super cute 🙂
Thank you so much!
Your garland looks lovely! What a wonderful idea to have a family day and do a photoshoot for your niece’s birthday. In some cultures the birthday person treats everyone else and/or gives them gifts in gratitude for the presence of friends and family in their lives. 🙂 It is an interesting perspective to have.
Such a lovely idea! And it doesn’t seem too difficult to make!! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Love this! It’s been such a long time since I’ve done anything crafty! Nearly everything I do is on the computer… sad life hahaha. Thanks for the inspiration though! Definitely want to try this.
xo Moonies
Such a cute and simple idea. I love it!
Very nicely done!