Fall Leaf Beaded Garland

Fall is my favorite time for crafting. And, because there's never enough time to do all the projects I want to do, there's no better time to start Fall crafting than Summer!

Beaded garlands are all the rage right now. I see them in every home decor store I go in. So, why not stay on trend, but with an Autumn twist? So, I asked my friends at Signopoly to cut me some 5" leaves with a hole in the top to string them.

Leaves are never just one solid color & I wanted my leaf to have several colors along with some texture. To create the texture, I mixed the color Colonel Mustard from the Dixie Belle Paint Company with Dixie Belle's Sea Spray texture additive.

Once the paint & Sea Spray were mixed well, I spread the mixture over one side of the leaf using a hotel key card.

Once the leaf was covered, I pressed the key card flat onto the mixture & then lifted it to create peaks.

After I set the leaf aside to dry, I placed 25mm wooden beads onto a skewer & began painting them with 3 colors, Colonel Mustard, Terracotta, & Florida Orange. I painted a total of 24 beads.

Once my leaf was dry, I painted over it with the Terracotta & Florida Orange, making sure not to blend them to create just one color.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded the leaf to expose some of the Colonel Mustard.

To create the garland, I threaded twine through the hole in the leaf, tied a knot, & left a 3" tail.

I began stringing the beads onto the twine & the tail.

Leaving a tail keeps you from having to cut close to the knot, which could make it fray. 

I continued threading beads onto the twine until there were 24 beads. Once the beads were threaded, I left a long tail of twine.

No beaded garland is complete without a tassel! 

 I used an orange & a yellow ribbon to add some color to my tassel. To measure, I wrapped the ribbon around a hotel key card twice, then cut it in half so I would have 2 equal lengths of both ribbons.

I began wrapping the key card with twine.

Every few wraps, I added ribbon.

I continued until I had the size tassel that I wanted.

I slipped the twine & ribbon off of the key card, & tied a knot at the top with the tail of twine.

I cut a piece of the orange ribbon & tied it about an inch from the top of the tassel.

I cut the twine at the bottom of the tassel, then trimmed the twine & ribbon to be even.

It's a little early to put out Fall decor, especially when it's still so hot out. But, when the temperature cools down & leaves begin to turn colors, I'll be ready!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home