northstory + co.

DIY – Twine Christmas Garland

Before you look at this and go did you seriously glue hundreds of 5 – 8 mm styrofoam balls to make a twine Christmas garland, I swear I would not be sharing this with you if it A) didn’t look really great on the tree, and B) if I told you it will only take about 10 minutes of your time.

I’m serious. 10 minutes. 15 max if you have distractions, and I have kids that cling to me when they’re bored like static electricity does to hair on a bad day in winter.

How to make your Twine Christmas Garland in 10 minutes!

This was inspired by the twine I did around the Wooden Dowel Christmas Tree craft. I have way too many twine projects on this blog.

What you’ll need:

  • twine
  • styrofoam balls
  • white craft glue
  • plate

The first time around we did it like this.

What I now call the it takes much longer, but distracts your kids very well method.

I measured out approx 15 feet worth of twine.

Folded it in half.

Got some glue and put a bunch on plate.

Glue meet styrofoam ball.

Styrofoam ball meet twine.

Let me assure you, they stick on super easily. As in the moment the balls get on the twine, they’re on the twine. You can move the twine as you need to and they’re not going to fall off.

I am sure there is a really great scientific reason for this involving how much static electricity comes out of that package when I opened it.

I am not a scientist so if you know, please enlighten me. All I know is it makes this project really easy.

Then after the first garland was done I thought, “Ok that took a little long.”

So this next way is the 10 minute method, which is way faster.

Even if you have to wipe down your table after.

Take glue and put it directly on the twine instead of the plate. Put balls on twine.

Can we get a collective round of silent applause for that idea that I should have done to begin with.

Let dry.

Hang it off your curtain railing or lay it flat. And it will wind up like this.

I used it on our Christmas tree on the front porch (I was going to use the Halloween tree to decorate but that’s another blog post of what we wound up doing with it instead).

The Christmas tree is 4 feet tall and I made two strands of 15 foot garland to cover it all.

Did I mention that the total cost of making this garland was $3?

$1 per item.

Music to my ears and hopefully yours! And if you want an even shorter time craft, go make these Glitter Christmas cards in under 5 minutes!

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29 Comments

  • Reply
    runtspickins
    December 3, 2012 at 9:03 am

    I love the way that turned out! It looks simple enough too! =]

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 3, 2012 at 2:43 pm

      Thank you!

      • Reply
        runtspickins
        December 3, 2012 at 2:45 pm

        I started a yarn pom pom garland but I haven’t finished it yet. (surprising…)

  • Reply
    ScrapAndSalvage
    December 3, 2012 at 10:02 am

    this is simply spiffy. i was going to comment on the garland that hung with the stars (same thing?), but couldn’t tell if they were cranberries. these look amazing and i can’t believe it only took you 10 minutes (15 on bailey’s, but that would be worth the 5 minute slow-down! 😉 ). now, did i miss how you got these puppies red? i would love to to do this next year. looks very festive and natural. good one!

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 3, 2012 at 2:43 pm

      Ack! My bad. They are two different bags of the balls. They come in so many colours. Most of the craft stores have them and they’re primarily used to fill vases with for decorations. So you can pretty much get them in any colour. I used the white one for another project.
      Bailey’s and my coffee are BFF’s. Terrible admission of a 50’s housewife life. I really should get back to an office job already. Then again who am I kidding there’s the after work drinks and lunches. What were we talking about again? Oh yes garland.

  • Reply
    Pillows A-La-Mode
    December 3, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    Adorable! And it’s a good thing you put the facts up front! Now lots of people will want to try it!!! 🙂

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 3, 2012 at 2:43 pm

      It looks like it would take awhile so I was very surprised at how quickly they stay put.

  • Reply
    Sue Schlabach 129twigandvine
    December 3, 2012 at 4:03 pm

    Now where am I going to find those styrofoam balls??? This looks fab!

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 2:59 pm

      I found mine at our local Dollarama but any craft or hobby store should have them. They’re usually sold as vase fillers for decoration. It’s from a brand they carry called Crafts. HTH!

  • Reply
    thelivedinroom
    December 3, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Love this! I wouldn’t have thought that anything but hot glue would work so easily to stick those balls to the twine. It looks amazing and you still have finger prints! 15min (Baileys is a given) You double pinky swear?

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 3:03 pm

      The first time we did it I was like ok this is taking way too long. The balls stuck easily but the put ball into the glue, put ball on twine was absurd. The laying the glue on the twine made it 5x faster. I even tried spray adhesive on the twine but it didn’t work the same and pretty much caused the twine to tangle itself into a giant playtoy for a cat.

  • Reply
    fynesdesigns
    December 3, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    SO cute!! I love that all the supplies can be found at Dollaramma!

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 3:03 pm

      Believe me no one was more surprised than me.

  • Reply
    Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
    December 3, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    “I am not a scientist so if you know, please enlighten me.” LOL… I usually credit that kind of thing to magic.

    You are seriously churning out the holiday crafts. And subsequent posts… unless you are super speedy; the posts must take you longer than the garland!

    I just turned on the “falling snow” in the background of my blog… I can’t tell if it’s delightful or tacky. You know how something that’s a novelty can initially strike you as really appealing, and then later you wonder what you were thinking?

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 3:13 pm

      Oh don’t be fooled. I wrote up several in two days at 11 pm like I was writing a thesis paper and then scheduled publication dates. There is no way on earth I could blog every day. Anyone who thinks this is easy to do and then write up the corresponding blog entry is crazy. You know it. I know it. Every blogger who needs to make dinner knows it.

      I’ve do have a hilarious entry that I have to write just for you on craft fails after finding some websites that made me feel so much better about my life and baking abilities. I’ve also got a fun entry on what things can go wrong with spray adhesive when you try to DIY a painted tshirt for your husband as an anniversary gift and be so damn mad you can’t even bring yourself to write about it 3 months later.

      Christmas is the only time I craft worse than Martha. Ok not even close to Martha but come January the crafting slows down b/c there’s no holiday to craft for. You’ll get to hear about my house renos all complete with photos of my daughters epic disaster of a room before/during and if there is an after it’s b/c I locked her out of her room for a week.

      Where’s the falling snow?!! I do love the disco balls mind you~

  • Reply
    julia @ life on churchill
    December 3, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    I just discovered your blog through apartment therapy. such an easy and cute idea!

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 3:14 pm

      For a second there I thought AT did a feature and I was like OH MY GOD and then I realized no. No my stats don’t show that at all. 🙂 Thanks for the kudos!

  • Reply
    Gilit
    December 3, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    Love it! Sometimes the simplest things are the best and this is giving me total Christmas tree envy

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 3:16 pm

      I think that tree is actually nicer than our indoor one which is made from – wait for it – store bought ornaments. The horror right? Ok I lied some of the baking soda dough ones made it but seriously there is almost nothing crafted on my indoor tree…s… (we have 3 trees – yes – *hangs head in shame*)

      • Reply
        Gilit
        December 5, 2012 at 2:04 pm

        DIY-ers everywhere are gasping 😉

  • Reply
    thethinkingcloset
    December 3, 2012 at 11:06 pm

    Wow! This is such a fun looking garland. And good for you for trying different methods WHILE working. Usually, it’s when I finish a project that I look back and say, “Wait a minute, why didn’t I try THAT method?” Your tree looks fab. Brava!

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 4, 2012 at 3:17 pm

      Oh no I have those moments after. The only reason I figured out the easier way is because I didn’t make enough garland the first time to wrap around the tree and had to make more. And then I was thinking there needs to be a way to do this faster for my own sanity.

  • Reply
    Stacey
    December 4, 2012 at 10:56 pm

    I love that you have a tree on your front porch! You weren’t kidding… Christmas is super fun at your house. I’ll be lucky to get my fake tree out of the box and some tacky balls hanging on it. This however, has inspired me to make something. I need to make something as sweet and pretty as Alex does! I’ll work on that.

    Love the garland. Handmade anything ALWAYS appeals to me. And I’m quite impressed with your gluing skills. I tried to glue two pieces of paper together yesterday and got it all over me. I literally had to take a bath!!

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 5, 2012 at 1:47 pm

      3 trees Stacey. There’s probably a 12 step program for this somewhere. It’s my husbands fault b/c I was the anti Christmas person for almost my entire life, but that’s a lot to do with having to work in retail during the holiday season.
      Our trees are all fake lady!! Bring out the fake tree and rock it! (No pun intended based on your last blog entry). 🙂
      Oh that spray glue is the stickiest nightmare. Even my fav E6000 is like a smear campaign literally on my hands. I totally sympathize.

  • Reply
    Danielle
    December 6, 2012 at 2:04 am

    I love this! I’m not entirely sure that I still couldn’t screw it up, but I think it’s really fun and willing to give it a try. Plus, I kinda dig the twine all bunched up together, like maybe it could work itself into a cute wreath or table garland or something. Hmmm… This could turn into something dangerous for me.

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 9, 2012 at 8:03 pm

      Wreath, wreath, wreath! Great minds think alike. Just wait for Tues. I like the bunched up look to so if you come up with something for it, post it when you do!

  • Reply
    Cre8tivedesigns
    December 9, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    It usually takes me a try or two {or three} before I find the easy and quick way to do a craft project. Love these, they are super duper cute! I might give these a shot, thanks for the 411, it really helpful. I think I might put wax paper down to avoid the glue clean up mess afterwards 🙂

    • Reply
      Alex@northstory
      December 9, 2012 at 8:08 pm

      Wax paper is a way better idea than what I did here. Then again, I should do a blog post on how my kitchen table top looks like due to all the crafting. It is indeed possible to antique IKEA furniture. Glad you like it!

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