Friday, December 2, 2011

Spool and Tulle Garland


On Kelli Nina Perkins blog I saw the most gorgeous spool "beads" garland. She used bright pretty colors, vintage spools and sewed on little tiny treasures. It was love at first sight. So much so, that I decided to make a similar one that same day. I highly recommend you read her awesome post as mine is a little less fabulous, more homespun and made by three boys and a husband. Which for me makes it the absolutely most special thing in the whole world, but if you're looking for perfect and artsy her's is the one.

First decorate your plain wood spools (20/2.99 at Hobby Lobby) by inking up a text stamp and then pushing each end of the spool into the text. Next roll the edges across your ink pad. 
It really dresses up the plain spools.


Cover the spool with tacky glue. Wrap half with one type of fiber. Glue down end. Repeat with second type of fiber.



Next we added wire. Kelli sewed her beads on and it looks SO GORGEOUS but I wanted to make this as boy and husband friendly as possible so we used wire. What worked best was to make a loop on the end of a six inch piece and hook it under the fiber. I'm showing you this on a relatively flat ribbon so you can see how it hooks on.

Then we threaded completely random beads on the wire and dropped them down against the spool as we wrapped it around. To finish the ends we repeated the hook and loop step and then squeezed the wire tightly in our fists to map sure it was on good and tight.



I emptied out all my Gauche Alchemy color kits and let them have at it



This was how my cute family looked for about an hour.


When you're done you should have this:




I let ours dry overnight at this point just to make sure the glue was good and set.

Next you'll need a six foot piece of tulle and a skewer.



Tie a knot in the tulle about six inches in from the end, slide on a spool, using the skewer to push the material through and then knot off the other side. We tried not knotting both sides of the spool and they slid around a lot when wrapping around the tree.


And then hang them from your windows, wrap them around a tree - doowhatchalike!



If you're looking for my version of Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas CLICK HERE

Linked Up With:


Whipperberry
Once Upon a Weekend

18 comments:

Mary C. said...

I wish I could have been there for this episode of crafting with the Maki's! It looked like so much FUN!!! Now I need to put this on the schedule to do with the boys next year.

Kellininaperkins said...

I love that you made it boy friendly--fantastic! Precious photos of a great time.

Lindsay @ Diary of a Crafty Lady said...

This is spectacular!! I LOVE yours - and I especially love when the whole family can get involved. I am having the same feeling that you had - I want to make one RIGHT NOW!
Wow, I am pinning this for sure :)
Great job!
Lindsay
www.craftyladylindsay.blogspot.com

Liane Townsend said...

I love this with a passion un-describable!

Jane LaFazio said...

wonderful!! love how you got the fam involved and the result is gorgeous!

Alecia @ ChickenScratch NY said...

This is amazing! I love the crazy haphazardness of it all. Thanks for sharing! New follower from TT&J

chickenscratchny.blogspot.com

Rach H @ FamilyEverAfter said...

ok, did you do this because spool and tulle rhyme? haha. this is so cute and creative! stopped by from tt&J. would LOVE you to link this at my party that just started.

www.familyeverafterblog.com

newest follower!

Juls said...

these are fab! so creative, and lovely to see that the whole family were crafting together! Hugs Juls

Unknown said...

So cute! Thanks for sharing!

Penny said...

How cool is this, and good for you that you were able to get the men in your life both young and old to participate. What fun!

Unknown said...

oooohhh....this is really sweet! I just pinned it!! :)

Lorri Flint said...

I also wanted to drop everything and make these! So far, I've gathered a bin of materials to play with when I take a break from the computer. I love how you used wire to make this a simple project for the whole family! If you want more of Kelli, she'll be the guest instructor at Art Camp for Women in October 2012!

Lorri
www.artcampforwomen.com

Barb said...

Just wonderful idea and to see the family all working together--LOVE IT!!!!

Chrissy said...

Oh my wowness!!! How freaking cool of a garland is this?! I love how you made it a family project and they did a GREAT job. Gorgeous garland. Definitely on my list for next year's decorations.

Amy Wing said...

FanTAStic project, Nicole! Whoo-hoo! Those boys look like they are having fun, and that takes my breath away that you could make it so much fun for them. Great idea and finished project looks awesome. :) Thanks for the Gauche Alchemy mention, as always.

Crafty Mischief said...

This is darling! Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog!

April's Homemaking said...

What a great project! Your garland looks great, and looks like it was really fun to make!!

Patti @ Pandoras Box said...

This is adorable...love that everyone got involved in this project, too. Tree looks lovely!