Wrapped Gift Garland

So today I decided to share with you a project that I did for the Styrofoam challenge over at Under the Table and Dreaming a couple of weeks ago.

It was so fun to get to work with such a great product and I loved being able to make such a fun garland with it :)

So here goes:
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I love decorating for Christmas and one of my favorite decor items for this time of the year is all kinds of fun garlands!

I love being able to drape and hang things for just a couple months- it seems to make everything just a bit more magical and special.

So I decided to show you guys a fun & funky wrapped gift garland!

For the base of all the gifts, I used 12x36 sheets of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam to create the shapes I wanted.

The STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam worked amazing for this project because it's so light and sturdy, which is exactly what you need for something that is going to be hanging up somewhere!

ITEMS YOU NEED:

*12x36 sheet of STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam

*Serrated Knife to cut the sheet easily

*Various fabrics and paper for wrapping

*Embellishments of your choice

*Thick raffia or String to hang the garland

The first thing you need to do is decide what shapes you want for your different presents.
I cut out several rectangles and squares of various sizes to use.

A serrated knife works perfectly to cut the sheet- just use small back and forth sawing motions.

Cut out as many shapes as you want and then lay them out in a pattern that you like.

I always like to give myself a visual of how things will be set up so I don't use the same paper or fabric on two right next to each other :)

The fun part is getting all your embellishments together!!

Raid your craft closet, fabric stashes and scrapbook paper and lay it all out to work with.

I love having a large assortment of things because it seems to just drive a little more creativity :)

Don't you love my big pile of goodies?

 And just start having fun wrapping, gluing, cutting and tying!!!

I wanted a more vintage, soft feel to mine so I used a lot of burlap, brown paper and whites, reds and blues.

Be creative and don't be scared to just try things out!!

Some of my favorites were just ones that I started tying things on and ended up loving!

I used a thick piece of raffia that I had on hand to glue the packages too when I was finished.

I also tied some scrap pieces of burlap in between each package to give it some extra flair :)

I love the simple pennant banner on the first one, and I even added some small upholstery tacks around the sides!

The red package just has some simple white jingle bells tied around it.

My favorite one might be the brown paper package that I glued a doily onto.

I tucked a tag that says 'be merry' onto it and added a chipboard circle that I wrapped with red burlap.

It looks like a cute mini wreath to me :)

The burlap wrapped package has little cookie cutter charms strung onto it!

This is such a fun & easy project to add some holiday charm to any part of your house.

And if you cut some extra package shapes out, they make great centerpieces and fillers!

I love them with my white milk glass bowl  just sitting on the table.

Plus it means I get to keep wrapping pretty presents that won't be just ripped to shreds come Christmas morning :)

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Hope you guys are getting all your Christmas errands all wrapped up this week considering Christmas is a mere SIX days away!

Where has the time gone???