I’m so excited about this crafting project we did for the holidays this year. (And now I can safely share about it here- yay!) I had an inspiration, and told Jeff that I wanted to make wood garlands for gifts for family, and that I wanted to put the words Love and Joy on them. He sliced and sanded a bunch of wood rounds for me. The wood was cedar from our yard, and I’ve always been especially fond of it. I used a tiny paintbrush to paint the white letters, and was surprised by how challenging it actually was to stay in the lines.
Painting them all ended up taking much longer than I’d expected, and I worried I wouldn’t finish them in time. Jeff said he would be happy to help me. (Very kind of him since he had quite a few other things he needed to be working on that day.) I warned him that it was really challenging to keep the paint in the lines. Hilariously, he didn’t struggle with staying in the lines and he painted them much more quickly than I did. (He’ll tell you it’s thanks to wearing his optivisor while he did it.) I really appreciated the help, as I watched our stack of painted rounds grow.
I drilled two holes in each round, and for the twine we used rustic garden twine from the hardware store. I loved the look of it. I was going for rustic with this project, and didn’t oil the wood either because it would have deepened the color too much and I liked the way it looked as it was. I did a loop on the end of each side to hang the garland from. I figured that some family might save the garlands for their holiday decorations each year, but I love the garlands so much that I picked out a spot on the wall where I’m hanging a Joy and Love garland up year round. So, that’s my holiday crafting project to share for this year. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the wood garlands, and feel inspired for your future creative projects. Did you guys work on any fun projects for the holidays? I’d love to hear what you were up to.
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P.S. That white background you’ve been seeing in my recent pictures? Jeff built a wood platform for me awhile ago to bring outside to take pictures. We painted it with chalk paint (first time using it) and I did a sand through, I love the way that looks. I enjoyed working on it, and I’ve been appreciating having it around.
Lovely garlands!!
Taryn, I saw Rachel’s Instagram post with this garland in the foreground and loved it! You’ve got to make these for Etsy next year!!! I’m in love with Etsy. I’ve been looking for all things handmade whenever I need something for the new house or a gift. Your Etsy store is beautiful and so are your buttons. Hope it’s going well. I wish I could knit!!!! Will I see you in April at Leah’s wedding?? Bill and I will be there, and Waverly lives in Austin now.
Love ya,
Aunt Renee’
Hi Aunt Renee’
Great to hear from you! I don’t think the garlands will be making their way to our Etsy shop due to how much work they ended up being, but I will be keeping you in mind if I make any more. 🙂 Yes, we will be at the wedding. Look forward to seeing you! Love, Taryn
Beautiful platform and garlands! Great gift idea!
Love the simplicity of the garlands. Wood is one of my favorite things but good pieces are hard to find here on cape cod. Mainly scrub oak. Any chance you will be selling these rounds of wood in your shop? Beautiful work.
Hi Shirley, Thanks for writing. I thought about selling the wood garlands in the shop, but they ended up being a lot more work than I expected so I would have to charge more than I’d like. I also thought about selling kits for people to make their own, including the wood rounds like you mentioned, but Jeff is so very busy in the shop already that I don’t thinking we’ll be adding that. However, I’m sure there are many places online selling wood rounds that you could buy for making a garland. Let me know if you find a good source because it would be nice to have a link in these comments for others to find. 🙂
Your garlands look beautiful and I’m sure your lucky recipients were delighted! I can understand why you would want to keep them up all year, we have a similar garland with my daughters name on which some wood working friends made for her and we all love it. Happy new year.
What a great idea. They turned out perfectly! I’m tempted to try. How did you ever get the letters so uniform? You didn’t draw them free hand did you? Job well done. I’d love to hear back. Happy New Year!
Very cool!!! Happy New Year