Wood Bead Garland DIY

It's ALMOST time to break out the holiday gear and get the house gussied up! I will admit, I have been kind of lazy decorator the last few years. We have so many parties and birthdays in December, and having the house all decked out in holiday gear kind of makes it hard for these events to have as much style or a theme as I would like. Specially when you have someone wanting a Palace Pets party with all the fixings... red and green over the top holiday stuff everywhere just isn't part of the vibe we are going for. BUT we LOVE the holidays! So this year we are going to approach it with a minimalist mindset. Lots of fun stuff, and more importantly making memories making the fun stuff. 

So we are crafting a handful of small projects that add a little spirit to the house, but are potentially cool enough to use year round if we so desired! It looks 2016 is going to be year 2 of the great purge around here, this year has gone so well on that front, and so the last thing we want to add more to the Christmas storage pile!

This DIY is probably the simplest ever, but it is great for kids! You only need two supplies: wood beads (these are 1 inch unfinished beads, but you could do any size or finish or even paint them to match your decor!), and a length of cord in a colour you like.

This is a good project to do together with kids. I had Wren come up with a pattern and then she would string them on and I was the one to tie a simple knot every so often to highlight the pattern. This is totally optional, but we liked how it gave the garland some colour without having to paint the beads!

It turned out pretty cute! We did a 6 foot garland so we can use it in a variety of ways, but a smaller 3 or 4 foot garland would be cute in a bed room or a longer one around a tree would be stunning. Keep in mind that it is actually fairly weighty once it's all done, so if you are doing one for a tree you may want to use half inch beads instead otherwise it may weigh your branched down.

It's great for using in unexpected ways, or even as a hanging spot for kids clothes if mounted right (like this!)

It's a good place for us to start with our pared back Holiday decorating, but I have a couple more fun DIY's coming your way and a  really amazing holiday collaboration so stay tuned!