10/27

Tricks + Treats: Rachel’s Acorn Garland

D.I.Y. Project
By A Beautiful Mess

6a00d8358081ff69e20133f55fb76a970b-800wi

I'm Rachel from Smile And Wave, a place where I write about life with two little people, a lot of vintage, and the good-looking man with the scooter. 

6a00d8358081ff69e20133f55f9f51970b-800wi

I love decorating the house to reflect seasonal changes and tend to want to make it rather than buy it so this year I opted to use what I always have on hand to create a fun acorn garland.  Wood grain contact paper will probably be in my top five must haves for awhile for it's versatility and trendiness.  I have used it in art journals, mini books, to create wall art, to line the inside of a wardrobe, etc. and love how easy it is to work with!  You can whip up your own acorn or (insert icon here) garland with a few basic low cost materials and add a little autumn coziness to your space.

6a00d8358081ff69e20134887f9e87970c-800wi

You'll need two tones of wood grain contact paper, preferably one lighter and one darker.  You can find them at most hardware stores including Ace, Lowe's, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart.  Substitute this with vintage wallpaper, found paper, book pages, etc. and you'll be my hero.  You'll also need three pieces of 12" x 12" thin chipboard (available at scrapbooking stores) or about three to four cereal boxes, twine or yarn, a hole punch, paper scissors, a pen, thumb tacks or other device for hanging your garland.

6a00d8358081ff69e20134887fa0dd970c-800wi

Print out the acorn pdf and trace it onto your cereal box or chipboard as many times as you want depending on how long you want your garland to be.  Cut them out and stack them so that they're all facing the same way. (Pattern PDF:  Download Acorn)
 

6a00d8358081ff69e20134887fbb82970c-800wi

Then place your acorn template over your lighter woodgrain and trace about 1/2" around the edge of your template up to the point you want the lighter woodgrain to stop.  Once you attach this to your chipboard you'll trim off the edges.  Use your same acorn template to judge where the darker wood grain should slightly overlap the light and then cut about 1/2" around the top edge of your acorn.  Attach it to your chipboard so that it slightly overlaps the lighter woodgrain and then trim around the edges.  Repeat with all of your acorns.

6a00d8358081ff69e20134887faea9970c-800wi

Punch holes in the first finished acorn and then use it as a guide to punch holes in the same spot on the other acorns.  String them through with twine and hang them festively on your wall.  Take it even further and hand cut letters from the darker wood grain contact paper to spell something out on the light part of the acorns!  

6a00d8358081ff69e20133f55fb76a970b-800wi

Can I say how excited I am about the end of the month's store opening at Red Velvet Art!  I really need to nail down my costume but I'm thinking it needs to be based around a vintage dress, don't you think?  Do you have any end of the month Halloween or otherwise festivities going on?  What were you for Halloween last year?

Thanks for having me, Elsie!  Happy decorating, ya'll!
xoxo,
Rachel

39 Comments

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.