Alexa Blay

Upcycle a wood reindeer from the thrift store into this cute Scandinavian-inspired DIY Reindeer! It’s the perfect decoration for Christmas!

DIY Reindeer

Is anyone just absolutely in love with Scandinavian-inspired Christmas decor? I’ve been on the lookout for some beautiful pieces lately.

I see a ton of these homemade wood reindeer at the thrift stores every winter, and I realized that it would be a relatively easy item to update into something super chic and cute.

If you prefer a more rustic look, you could stain the wood reindeer a dark color, and then use a white paint pen to add the decoration. It think it would look great that way!

How to Make a Scandinavian-Inspired Reindeer

The full directions to make this painted reindeer are in the printable card at the bottom of the post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions:

1. Prime the reindeer with gesso.
2. Paint with your favorite color of acrylic paint.
3. Use a paint pen to draw on the designs.
4. Enjoy displaying your new beautiful Christmas decoration!

Painted Reindeer Tips

1. The reindeer I used is mostly raw unfinished wood, which makes this project a lot easier. If you use a sealed wood, you’ll have to either strip it, sand it off, or use a strong primer.
2. Even though the reindeer I used was a little rough on the edges, I didn’t sand it too much because it’s a really soft wood and it kind of seemed like the sandpaper was just eating away at it. I did sand off a bit of the parts that were painted black though because I knew I’d be painting it a light color.
3. I primed it with two coats of gesso (both to fill in the gaps a little, and to give good base coverage for the acrylic paint).
4. Two coats of a warm white acrylic paint on the most visible parts worked perfectly. I only used one coat on the not so visible parts.
5. If your pieces are separated, check that they still fit together between each coat of paint. I ended up with one leg that could barely be squeezed on, so it didn’t need any glue. I glued on the other leg and the antlers.
6. I definitely recommend using a paint pen for adding the design. Preferably a good quality paint pen – I ran into issues with a dollar store one smudging a lot even after it dried.
7. Try to paint the reindeer and add the design on the same day – since I ended up with some paint pen smudges on the horse, it was super helpful to have the mixed color ready to go to cover up the smudges.
8. I felt like the legs were a little bare and needed just a little something, but not too much because I didn’t want to draw the attention away from the torso and antlers. If you don’t have a steady hand, or really like things that look a little more perfect, I’d skip lining the leg because it’s kind of hard to keep the paint pen steadily on the edge. Surprisingly, it was easier to paint the edge while holding it in the air than while it was on the table.

What You’ll Need

To make these Scandinavian-inspired reindeer you’ll need a couple of tools (affiliate links):

1. Wooden reindeer. I’ve found tons at the thrift store, but if you can’t find any (or don’t want to deal with removing any existing finishes), you can buy a new one here.
2. Gesso. Gesso’s a great primer for wood, and since it’s a little thicker than paint, it helps fill in some of the ridges in the wood.
3. Acrylic paint. I used a combination of white acrylic paint mixed with the tiniest bits of red acrylic paint and orange acrylic paint.
4. Paintbrush. I use this set for pretty much all of my crafting because it always has one that will work for my project.
5. Paint pen. I used one from the Dollar Tree, but can’t fully recommend it. I much prefer this one.

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy upcycled and thrift flip Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• DIY Chalk Paint Candlestick
• Christmas Gnome Ornaments

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 1

DIY Painted Christmas Reindeer

Print

Upcycle a wood reindeer from the thrift store into this cute Scandinavian-inspired DIY Reindeer! It's the perfect decoration for Christmas!

Active Time 45 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5 or Less

Materials

• Wooden Reindeer
• Gesso
• Glue
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Pen

Tools

• Paintbrush

Instructions

1. Start by priming the reindeer with gesso. I ended up using two coats. This both kind of filled in some of the ridges on the wood, and prepped the wood for the acrylic paint.
2. If your reindeer isn't glued together (like mine was), go ahead and glue it together after the gesso has dried.
3. Mix the color you want to use for the base of the reindeer using acrylic paint. I wanted a warm white, so I added just the tiniest little touch of orange and red to my white paint. If you do the same thing, just know that it's really easy to add too much, so add almost nothing at a time.
4. Paint the reindeer. I used two coats.
5. Once the reindeer is dry, draw on the design using a paint pen. I used one from the Dollar Tree, but recommend using a better one (it ended up smudging after it was dry). There are lots of ways you can add the design, but I thought the antlers, face, neck/chest, legs, saddle, and tail were the most important parts.
6. Antlers: I painted the flat edges a solid gold, made a border with gold dots, and decorated with swoopy lines and dots.
7. Face: I kept it simple with very basic eye, nose, and mouth outlines.
8. Neck/Chest: This was more inspired by the white on the necks of white-tailed deer than by reindeer, but I thought having a filled in gold teardrop shape here made the piece look more complete.
9. Saddle: I drew a relatively simple saddle that was accented with different lines and dots.
10. Tail: I drew an upside down heart on surrounded by a border of dots.
11. Legs: I outlined the very edges of the legs with a thin gold line.

Notes

The reindeer I'm using is mostly raw unfinished wood, which will make this project a lot easier. If you use a sealed wood, you'll have to either strip it, sand it off, or use a strong primer.

I felt like the legs were a little bare and needed just a little something, but not too much because I didn't want to draw the attention away from the torso and antlers. If you don't have a steady hand, or really like things that look a little more perfect, I'd skip lining the leg because it's kind of hard to keep the paint pen steadily on the edge. Surprisingly, it was easier to paint the edge while holding it in the air than while it was on the table.

Keep an eye out at the thrift store for a wooden reindeer so you can try making this super cute painted DIY reindeer!

Makeover a thrifted candlestick with some easy DIY chalk paint! This 2-ingredient paint transforms your DIY chalk paint candlestick quickly, and upcycles your item into something really beautiful!

DIY Chalk Paint Candlestick

I was shopping at the thrift store looking for Christmas decorations this season, and found this candlestick. It wasn’t really my style as-is. It’s a little too formal and ornate for our home, and the combination of the gold and the red undertones didn’t really match our decor.

I thought it would be a great item to do a thrift flip on! It’s the perfect candidate for a trash to treasure craft. All I had to do was add some textured chalk paint. That covered enough of the design that it didn’t feel too embellished for us, but left enough of the design that it still feels pretty and special as a holiday decoration.

How to Make Homemade Chalk Paint

There are tons of DIY chalk paint recipes, but we’re sticking with a simple baking soda chalk paint for this candlestick makeover. That’s because we want a thick paint so that it can fill in a lot of the divots in the design, which tones down how ornate this piece feels. Plus, making a textured paint with only two ingredients is pretty awesome!

To make the chalk paint, mix a 1 to 1 ratio of acrylic paint to baking soda.

The paint should be very gritty, but if you think it’s too gritty, just add some more paint until you get the texture you want.

You could add a clear chalk paint wax to the top if you want, but since this piece isn’t one that’s likely to be handled frequently, I don’t think it’s necessary.

How to Make an Upcycled Candlestick

The full directions to make this candlestick is in the printable card at the bottom of the post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions:

1. Clean the thrifted candlestick and let it dry.
2. Make the baking soda chalk paint, and paint the candlestick. Let dry.
3. Sand off some of the paint to reveal some of the design beneath. Wipe off the sanding dust.
4. Enjoy displaying with some beautiful taper candles!

What You’ll Need

To make this candlestick you’ll need a couple of tools (affiliate links):

1. Paintbrush. I use this set for pretty much all of my crafting because it always has one that will work for my project.
2. Acrylic paint. I used a black acrylic paint.
3. Baking soda. I’m sure you’ve got some of this in your pantry already! If not, you can buy some here.
4. Fine grit sandpaper. I like to use a really fine grit sandpaper, like this one, to give the paint a more polished look.
5. Craft paper towels. These are the paper towels that I love using for all of my crafting. They don’t leave any lint behind and are just the best!
6. Taper candles. I’m a sucker for taper candles. I love how beautiful these ones are!

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy upcycled and thrift flip Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• DIY Christmas Gnome Ornaments
• DIY Reindeer (Scandinavian Inspired)

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 1 candlestick

DIY Chalk Paint Candlestick

Print

Makeover a thrifted candlestick with some easy DIY chalk paint! This 2-ingredient paint transforms your thrift find quickly, and upcycles your item into something really beautiful!

Active Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5 or Less

Materials

• Candlestick with Raised Designs
• Acrylic Paint
• Baking Soda
• Candles

Tools

• Small to Medium Paintbrush
• Fine Grit Sandpaper
• Paper Towel or Cloth

Instructions

Clean your candlestick holder.

Mix some baking soda chalk paint. You can do this by mixing a 1:1 ratio of chalk paint to baking soda. We're purposefully using a high ratio of baking soda because it helps fill in some of the designs on the candlestick.

Paint the entire candlestick, being sure to really push the paint in to the divots of the design.

Allow the candlestick to fully dry.

Use fine grit sandpaper to remove some of the paint on the ridges of the design. This will allow some, but not all, of the original design to show through.

Use a damp paper towel or cloth to wipe off the dust.

Notes

Be sure to pick a candlestick that has a design with raised edges. The one that I bought at the thrift store was pretty, but too ornate for my taste. Using the thick baking soda chalk paint helped to fill some of the design so it became more subdued.

The next time you find something at the thrift store with a beautiful shape, but that’s just a little too ornate, try transforming it with this technique for an easy DIY chalk paint candlestick!

These Christmas Gnome Ornaments are so cute, easy, and cheap to make! They’re perfect to hang on your tree or make great homemade ornaments as gifts.

DIY Christmas Gnome Ornaments

Is there anything cuter than homemade Christmas gnomes?

These DIY gnomes have so much personality and look so great hanging on a Christmas tree. I especially love how the Christmas lights behind the cream felt beard shine through. Depending on the color of Christmas light you use, it either makes them more colorful, or illuminates them with a beautiful glow.

You could even skip the ornament ribbon, and attach one of these to a wreath. I think that would be adorable! It would definitely be a fun addition to your Christmas decor, and I think that wreaths with fun elements like that make great festive holiday wall art.

Optional Changes

The main optional changes with these ornaments have to do with fabric and with color.

The most obvious one is to use faux fur as the beard. That would be so cute! It can also be a little harder to find, which is why I went with a felt beard.

If you have a more colorful aesthetic, you could make lots of these gnomes with rainbow colored hats! You can pick up bright colorful felt at the dollar store, and I can imagine this looking super cute and chic hanging on a tree. I’m picturing one with a navy hat, one with a yellow hat, and one with a bright pink hat.

How to Make a Gnome Hat

This step is a little finicky, but if you have patience and only trim off a little fabric at a time, it will come together. I recommend only trimming a little fabric at a time because it can be easy to trim too much fabric, which means you’d have to start over and would have wasted some fabric.

Since the fabric size is based on the size of styrofoam ball you use, I didn’t really think a felt gnome pattern would be too helpful, but I promise it’s a relatively easy ornament to make once you play with it a little bit!

To make the gnome hat, start by taking the fabric you’re going to use for the hat, and wrapping it around the ball you’re using as a base to find out how wide you need your cut of fabric to be.

It’s best if the edges overlap just a little on the back of the ornament. Cut the fabric to that width, then decide how tall you want the hat to be, and cut the fabric to that height.

To shape the hat, start making the cone shape with the hat fabric by making the bottom into a large circle and the top of the fabric into a tight circle that wraps around itself. This will show you where the obviously excess fabric is that you can cut off.

Keep repeating this process of removing the extra fabric until you have a triangular piece of fabric that wraps into a gnome hat nicely.

Glue the bottom edge of the hat around the center of the styrofoam ball.

Cut a small piece of ribbon to act as the hanging loop, and glue it to the top center front of the fabric (making sure the pretty side of the ribbon faces forward). Glue together the back seam of the hat.

How to Make Gnome Ornaments

The beauty of this ornament is that it’s no-sew! Thanks to a little hot glue, these are super easy to make. The full directions to make these homemade Christmas ornaments are in the printable card at the bottom of the post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions:

1. Measure, cut, and glue the gnome hat. Don’t forget to add the ornament hook ribbon before gluing the hat shut in the back!
2. Measure, cut, and glue the gnome beard. Style the beard by cutting some wisps at the bottom – this gives it so much character.
3. Sketch and cut out the eyebrows. Position the eyes and pom pom nose where you’d like them, then glue them down.
4. Enjoy hanging on your Christmas tree!

What You’ll Need

To make these gnome ornaments you’ll need a couple of tools (affiliate links):

1. Low-temperature glue gun. I like to use a low-temperature glue gun when I’m working with styrofoam because it works better than a standard high-temperature glue gun. This is the one I use – it’s affordable and I love how well it’s lasted over the couple of years that I’ve had it.
2. Styrofoam balls. I bought these ones online, but I think you could also find some at the dollar store.
3. Cute fabric. I found this amazing plaid fabric at the thrift store, but here’s a beautiful and similar one you can buy online.
4. Felt. I like to keep both cream colored and a true white felt on hand. Depending on which fabric you use for the hat, one will probably look better than the other. I ended up going with the cream because it’s complemented the plaid I used really well. I bought my felt at the dollar store, but you can buy it here online. You could also use this faux fur to make the beard.
5. Small sharp scissors. Using small sharp scissors is really helpful to get the wispy look at the edge of the beard. These are the scissors I used.
6. Pom poms. Mine are from the dollar store, but you can also buy them here.
7. Ribbon. I’m using a dark gray sparkly wrapping ribbon that I bought last year at a small dollar store, but any pretty ribbon that matches your fabric will work. I also really like this ribbon for these ornaments
8. Hot glue sticks. You don’t need anything fancy or with amazing strength here. Just the basic ones will work.
9. Ornament hooks. I’m sure you’ve got some kicking around in your Christmas decorations. If not, you can find them at the dollar store, or buy these ornament hooks online.

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy upcycled and thrift flip Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• DIY Chalk Paint Candlestick
• DIY Reindeer (Scandinavian Inspired)

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 1 ornament

Christmas Gnome Ornaments

Print

These Christmas Gnome Ornaments are so cute, easy, and cheap to make! They're perfect to hang on your tree or make great homemade ornaments as gifts.

Active Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5 or Less

Materials

• Fabric
• Styrofoam Ball
• Hot Glue Sticks
• Ribbon
• Felt
• Pen
• Small Pom Pom

Tools

• Scissors
• Low-Temperature Hot Glue Gun

Instructions

1. Start by taking the fabric you're going to use for the hat, and wrapping it around the ball you're using as a base to find out how wide you need your cut of fabric to be. It's best if the edges overlap just a little on the back of the ornament. Cut the fabric to that width, then decide how tall you want the hat to be, and cut the fabric to that height.
2. Start making the cone shape with the hat fabric by making the bottom into a large circle and the top of the fabric into a tight circle that wraps around itself. This will show you where the obviously excess fabric is that you can cut off. Keep repeating this process of removing the extra fabric until you have a triangular piece of fabric that wraps into a gnome hat nicely.
3. Glue the bottom edge of the hat around the center of the styrofoam ball. Cut a small piece of ribbon to act as the hanging loop, and glue it to the top center front of the fabric (making sure the pretty side of the ribbon faces forward). Glue together the back seam of the hat.
4. Cut a piece of felt using the same method of measuring as you did for the hat. Cut the bottom of the beard into a loopy cloud shape, then use your scissors to cut small lines up into the beard to make the wispy pieces of hair. Glue the top edge of your beard in place on the styrofoam ball, butting it up against the bottom of the hat.
5. Sketch out two matching eyebrows on the felt, and cut them out. Position the eyebrows and pom pom nose where you'd like them to be, then glue them in place.

Notes

The styrofoam ball I used was a little rough, so it had some grip to it, and I found that to be really helpful. It kind of held the fabric in place once I positioned it while I glued it down. I think this would have been harder to make using a smooth ball as the base.

I used a cream colored felt for the beard because it looked better with the fabric I chose for the hat. I think it's helpful to have both colors available and choose the one that matches the best.

It's important to make sure that the length of the beard is proportional to the length of the hat. I made a really long and pointy hat, so it made sense to make my beard a little elongated, too.

Have fun with the position of the eyebrows! You can make the gnome look surprised, confused, or even grumpy based on the angle you choose for the eyebrows.

Try making these super cute DIY Christmas gnome ornaments for Xmas to hang on your Christmas tree!

These DIY star ornaments are so easy and cheap to make! They’re perfect to hang on your tree or make great homemade ornaments as gifts.

DIY Star Ornaments

After being seriously Christmas inspired by Pinterest this year, I set out to find some really special decorations that we could enjoy. We’ve been married for 5 years, but this is the first year that we have a Christmas tree! To say I’m excited about it is definitely an understatement.

When I was shopping around for our Christmas decorations on Etsy and eBay this year, I kept seeing adorable star ornaments. A lot of the ornaments in this style were made with fabric or felt, but I had a feeling I could make them a lot more easily and cheaply with some simple dollar store items.

I love this vintage style of design on ornaments, and I think they would make the perfect beautiful, but meaningful, homemade present. I know I would love to receive one of these as a gift from someone!

Optional Changes

If you don’t want to use styrofoam, I think these ornaments would also be beautiful made with wood stars. They would work best with either flat or hollow stars, just because the weight of solid wood 3D stars would require you to drill eye hooks into the wood to create something for the tree hooks to attach to securely.

You could even try making this with a heavyweight card stock if you want to make paper stars. I think that would be so easy because then you could just use a pen to draw out the design.

How to Make DIY Christmas Ornaments 

This project took a little bit of time (just because the paint needed time to dry), but the steps were super easy! The full directions to make these homemade Christmas ornaments are in the printable card at the bottom of the post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions:

1. Paint the stars. 2 – 3 coats on the front (depending on how opaque your paint is) seemed to work the best.
2. Draw the pattern on using a paint pen.
3. Glue the stars onto ornament hooks.
4. Enjoy hanging on your Christmas tree!

How to Make a Christmas Tree Star Topper

I think this would make a beautiful, affordable, and unique tree topper if you can find a large enough styrofoam star! Some of the larger styrofoam stars are made with a rougher styrofoam, so be sure to look for one that has a smooth finish.

To make the base, I think the easiest solution would be to look for an inexpensive tree topper at the thrift store or dollar store, and upcycle that base onto your new topper.

After looking around online, I found these products that I think would work really well (affiliate links). The first is a large styrofoam star with a more classic Christmas shape. The second is a base for your tree topper.

What Worked

These DIY star ornaments were super easy to make, and these are the steps that made the biggest difference.

1. Paint the back 1 and 1/2 times. What I mean by that is to overshoot the edges when you’re painting one of the coats on the front. That way you only have to paint the back once to get the appearance of full coverage (at least for all of the ways that the ornaments would be visible).
2. Use a paint pen to add the design instead of trying to use a paintbrush. I used a fine tip oil-based paint pen, and I loved the intricate designs I was able to easily make with it!
3. Add the designs in sections by drawing the same section of the design to each star, rather drawing the entire design on a whole star at once. I like doing this because it gives each part of the design a chance to dry so it won’t smudge.
4. Glue the ornament hook directly to the star. At first I thought I would need to glue metal loops to the stars and then attach the hooks to the loops. I could’ve done that, but it wasn’t necessary. If you’re going to glue loops to the ornaments, be sure to glue them towards the top of the star point. If you glue the hook too low, the weight of the top star point will fall forward, causing the design to face the floor.

What You’ll Need

To make these star ornaments you’ll need a couple of tools (affiliate links):

1. Low-temperature glue gun. I like to use a low-temperature glue gun when I’m working with styrofoam because it works better than a standard high-temperature glue gun. This is the one I use – it’s affordable and I love how well it’s lasted over the couple of years that I’ve had it.
2. Paintbrush. I use this set for pretty much all of my crafting because it always has one that will work for my project.
3. Styrofoam stars. I bought mine at the Dollar Tree, but if they don’t carry them at your local dollar store, you could try buying these ones.
4. Acrylic paint. I used a pearlescent red paint.
5. Paint pen. I used this fine tip oil-based paint pen, and I loved it! The lines were slightly more transparent than I would have liked, but the lines dried quickly and I was able to create really precise designs with it.
6. Hot glue sticks. You don’t need anything fancy or with amazing strength here. Just the basic ones will work.
7. Ornament hooks. I’m sure you’ve got some kicking around in your Christmas decorations. If not, you can find them at the dollar store, or buy these ornament hooks online.

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy dollar store Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• Boho Garland
• DIY Star Garland

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 7 ornaments

DIY Star Ornaments

Print

These DIY star ornaments are so easy and cheap to make! They're perfect to hang on your tree or make great homemade ornaments as gifts.

Active Time 45 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5 or Less

Materials

• 7 Styrofoam Stars
• Acrylic Paint
• Fine Tip Paint Pen
• Hot Glue Sticks
• Ornament Hook

Tools

• Paintbrush
• Low-Temperature Hot Glue Gun

Instructions

1. Choose the paint color you'd like to use as the base color for your stars. Paint the front side of each star using a small to medium sized paintbrush. Depending on how opaque the color you choose is, you may need several coats. I painted the front side 3 times and the back side once.
2. Once the stars have dried, use a fine-tip paint pen to add the decoration. It's helpful to draw one part of the decoration on each star before adding in more of the decoration because it allows the decorated part of each star to dry before adding more so you don't risk smudging the design.
3. Start by drawing the border around the edge of each star.
4. Once the edges have dried, draw in the center shape design (I love circles, hearts, and stars here).
5. Once the center design has dried, draw your desired design on the right side of one of the styrofoam star points. Rotate the styrofoam star and repeat the design on the right side of the remaining 4 points, and let dry. Note: I start on the right side of this design because I'm right handed, but if you're left handed, it will be easier to start on the left side.
6. Use the lines from the design on the right side of each star point as a guide to determine where each part of the design should start for the left side of each star point. The designs don't need to be perfect to look good, but it the center point always matches up, it will look best. Draw in the left side of the design on each star point, and let dry.
7. Heat your glue gun. Add a dollop of glue to the back of one of the star ridges. It should be about halfway down from the top edge of the star point. Glue each star to an ornament hook, making sure that the part of the hook that will hook onto the tree is facing away from the ornament (you may have to twist or rotate the hook a little first).

Notes

If you used a center design other than a star that has a clear "up" direction (for example, a heart), make sure that design is facing up before gluing it onto the ornament hook.

I drew a different design on each star, and I love the variety and look of that. Since I can't describe how to draw each design in the directions here, it would probably be easiest to look at the photos or watch the video in the post above. Alternatively, if you'd prefer a written description for how to draw out one of the star designs, you can read that in my DIY Star Garland post.

Try making these super cute DIY star ornaments for Xmas to hang on your Christmas tree!

Make your own DIY boho garland for some beautiful, cheap, and easy decor! It’s perfect for hanging on walls or on a Christmas tree.

DIY Boho Garland

I needed a white Christmas garland for our tree this year, and when I was shopping at the dollar store, I was so inspired by these adorable rattan balls. They have a “just rustic enough” look. I think they look natural and beautiful, but still chic, which is basically the boho look I’m going for here.

Even though I knew I could buy a beautiful boho garland on Etsy, I had a feeling that I could make one super easily and cheaply. This project was seriously SO easy, took practically no time, and I’m so happy with how it turned out.

Where to Hang This Garland

Depending on how you style it, it could used in so many situations.

• Christmas tree. This is what I made the garland for. I love the natural look and the pops of white against our tree this year.
• Walls. Since this is a really neutral colored garland, it could be hung on the walls as Christmas decoration, or even as year round decor.
• Wedding. I can see tons of these garland grouped together to make the top of an arch, or overlapped to make a beautiful backdrop.
• Party. If you want an easy party decoration, this boho themed garland adds lots of visual interest with minimal effort.
• Nursery. This would be beautiful draped along the wall of a nursery and has that soft cozy feeling.

Optional Changes

Try using large wood beads instead of rattan balls. The light wood beads have the same neutral color palette and the same kind of feel. You’d need to either tie or glue the beads into place because the hole will probably be a little too big for the yarn.

You could make pom poms instead of tassels if you want to have a less rustic and boho vibe, and more of a modern, pop, chic, or French look.

Depending on your style, I think this garland would be amazing in rainbow colors! I can see it being so pretty with bold colors like navy, bright pink, and yellow. This colorful look would be especially gorgeous with pom poms instead of tassels.

How to Make a Boho Garland 

Since we’re using rattan balls and a complementary colored yarn, there’s very little to do to make this pretty garland. There are thorough instructions in the printable card at the bottom of this post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions.

All you have to do is make the tassels, then thread everything onto the yarn in this order: 2 small rattan balls, 1 tassel, 2 small rattan balls, 1 medium rattan ball. Continue that pattern until the garland is finished.

How to Make Yarn Tassels

To make a tassel, start by wrapping the yarn around something that’s relatively flat and about 5″ long. I wrapped the yarn 15 times, but you can do more or less depending on how full you want the tassels.

Carefully remove the yarn from the flat object and use a roughly 6″ piece of yarn to tie a knot around one end of the loop. Use scissors to cut through the opposite end of the loop.

Take another roughly 6″ piece of yarn and tie another knot about 1 1/2″ below the first knot to make the bulb shape. Trim the bottom of the tassel to make the fringe even.

What You’ll Need

To make this garland you’ll need a few supplies (affiliate links):

1. Scissors. These are the scissors I use for crafting and I absolutely love them.
2. Something that’s flat and about 5″ long. This is what I used to wrap my tassels.
3. Tape. I used this tape to tape off the end of my yarn.
4. Small rattan balls. I bought mine at the dollar store, but you could also use these ones.
5. Medium rattan balls. I found mine at a different dollar store than the small rattan balls (Dollar Tree), but these ones will also work.
6. Thick yarn. I used some from my stash that I bought at the thrift store, but any yarn from the dollar store that isn’t too thin will work. This yarn also looks like it would work well.

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy dollar store Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• DIY Star Garland
• DIY Star Ornaments

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 1 garland

Boho Garland

Print

Make your own DIY boho garland for some beautiful, cheap, and easy decor! It's perfect for hanging on walls or a Christmas tree.

Active Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5

Materials

• 16 Small Rattan Balls
• 3 Medium Rattan Balls
• Yarn

Tools

• Tape
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Start by making the 4 tassels. To make a tassel, wrap the yarn around something that's relatively flat and about 5" long. I wrapped the yarn 15 times, but you can do more or less depending on how full you want the tassels. Carefully remove the yarn from the flat object and use a roughly 6" piece of yarn to tie a knot around one end of the loop. Use scissors to cut through the opposite end of the loop. Take another roughly 6" piece of yarn and tie another knot about 1 1/2" below the first knot to make the bulb shape. Trim the bottom of the tassel to make the fringe even.
2. Cut a piece of yarn to act as your garland. Tape one end so that it will be easier to thread through the rattan balls. To thread the yarn through the balls, I found it was easiest to look for a piece of the ball that had an opening big enough that I could get the yarn through it, but was close enough to other pieces of rattan that I could wedge the yarn into place so that the rattan balls didn't slide around on the garland too much.
3. Thread two small rattan balls onto the yarn, then tie a tassel on, then thread two small rattan balls, then thread on one medium rattan ball. Repeat this order until the garland is finished.
4. Knot the ends of the yarn so that the yarn doesn't unravel.

Notes

Tie the tassels onto the garland tightly enough that they'll stay in the place you put them, but not so tightly that you can't move them around based off of how the garland looks once it's hanging.

Try making this easy DIY boho garland! It’s perfect as a Christmas decoration, and can even be hung year round.

This DIY star garland is one of my favorite Christmas garland ideas! It’s so cute and chic, and it’s affordably made with dollar store items.

DIY Star Garland

When I was shopping around for our Christmas decorations on Etsy and eBay this year, I kept seeing adorable star garlands. As much as I loved the ones that I saw for sale, I knew that I wanted one for our tree that was more unique, and I also knew I could make it a lot cheaper.

I love this vintage style of design on ornaments, so I thought I’d make a beautiful homemade garland in a neutral color palette that would match our Christmas decorations for years to come.

Something I’m planning to try is wrapping it with fairy lights. I think it would look so magical with that touch of whimsy!

Optional Changes

If you don’t want to use styrofoam, I think this garland would also be beautiful made with wood, metal, or zinc stars.

You could even try making this with a heavyweight card stock if you want to make paper stars. I think that would be so easy because then you could just use a pen to draw out the design. If you make this with paper, you could even make mini garlands for wrapping.

If you use a nicer looking base than styrofoam, you could opt to skip the base paint step because I only did that to cover up the look of the styrofoam.

Another decoration idea I love is to make this into a vertical garland instead of a horizontal one. To do that, glue the yarn in a straight line starting from the top point of each star to the bottom divot.

How to Make a Christmas Garland 

This project took a little bit of time (just because the paint needed time to dry), but the steps were super easy! The full directions are in the printable card at the bottom of the post, but here’s a condensed version of the directions:

1. Paint the stars. 2 – 3 coats on the front (depending on how opaque your paint is) seemed to work the best.
2. Draw the pattern on using a paint pen.
3. Glue the stars onto a thick piece of yarn in evenly spaced increments.
4. Enjoy hanging on your mantle, canopy, Christmas tree, or room wall!

What Worked

This DIY star garland was super easy to make, and these are the steps that made the biggest difference.

1. Paint the back 1 and 1/2 times. What I mean by that is to overshoot the edges when you’re painting one of the coats on the front. That way you only have to paint the back once to get the appearance of full coverage (at least for all of the ways that this garland would be visible).
2. Use a paint pen to add the design instead of trying to use a paintbrush. I used one from the Dollar Tree, and it worked on this craft. It did smudge on another craft though, so I can’t fully recommend it. I’d use a better quality one if you have it. The one I used was silver, but I think I would have liked it even better in a bright gold (especially on a white background).
3. Add the design in sections. If you add the same section of the design to each star, rather drawing the entire design on a whole star at once. It helps for two reasons. First, it gives each part of the design a chance to dry. Second, it helps keep the design consistent across all of the stars.
4. Glue the yarn to the top of one of the star points. This helps it hang straight down with the pattern facing forward. If you glue it at the center of the star, the top point will rotate forward, which causes the pattern to face the floor.

What I Would Do Differently

Overall, I love how this cute DIY garland turned out! The monochrome look matches really well in my home.

If I were going to make it again, there are a couple things I would change though.

1. Don’t use metallic acrylic paint for the base. That’s only because I mixed it with white paint, so the pearlescent look was totally lost. If you’re not going to add white to the metallic paint, I think it would look beautiful though!
2. Use higher contrast colors. The tan and the silver are really similar in tone, and I wish the design popped just a little more. I also love the idea of using rainbow colors or a happy yellow to make this garland perfect for year round decorating!
3. Only use 2 coats of paint on the front of the stars. This especially true if you add white to your paint. There wasn’t enough of a difference between 2 coats and 3 coats to justify the extra time.

What You’ll Need

To make this garland you’ll need a couple of tools (affiliate links):

1. Low-temperature glue gun. I like to use a low-temperature glue gun when I’m working with styrofoam because it works better than a standard high-temperature glue gun. This is the one I use – it’s affordable and I love how well it’s lasted over the couple of years that I’ve had it.
2. Paintbrush. I use this set for pretty much all of my crafting because it always has one that will work for my project.
3. Styrofoam stars. I bought mine at the Dollar Tree, but if they don’t carry them at your local dollar store, you could try buying these ones.
4. Acrylic paint. I used a combination of a gold paint and a white paint.
5. Paint pen. I used one from the Dollar Tree, but can’t fully recommend it. I much prefer this one.
6. Hot glue sticks. You don’t need anything fancy or with amazing strength here. Just the basic ones will work.
7. Thick yarn. I used some that I bought at the thrift store, but any pretty and thick yarn from the dollar store would work. This yarn would also work well.
8. Pen. I used this pen to mark where my stars should be glued.

DIY Christmas Crafts

If you’re looking for more easy dollar store Christmas crafts, be sure to check these out!

• Boho Garland
• DIY Star Ornaments

Click here to pin this project for later!

Yield: 1 garland

DIY Star Garland

Print

This DIY star garland is one of my favorite Christmas garland ideas! It's so cute and chic, and it's affordably made with dollar store items.

Active Time 45 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $5

Materials

• 7 Styrofoam Stars
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Pen
• Hot Glue Sticks
• Thick Yarn
• Pen

Tools

• Paintbrush
• Low-Temperature Hot Glue Gun

Instructions

1. Choose the paint color you'd like to use as the base color for your stars. Paint the front side of each star using a small to medium sized paintbrush. Depending on how opaque the color you choose is, you may need several coats. I painted the front side 3 times and the back side once.
2. Once the stars have dried, use the paint pen to add the decoration. It's helpful to draw one part of the decoration on each star before adding in more of the decoration. This works best for two reasons 1) it allows the decorated part of each star to dry before adding more so you don't risk smudging the design 2) it makes it easier to keep the design consistent from star to star.
3. Start by painting the dots around the edge of each star. It's easiest to use the point of your paint pen and rotate the star with one hand while you apply the dots with the other.
4. Once the edges have dried, draw in the center star. The ridges make it hard to draw a traditional star shape, so I like to start with the center of each point of the drawn star on the ridge of the styrofoam star and draw a straight line down from each side to the closest ridge. This makes a triangle shape. Rotate the star to make this shape on each ridge, and the five triangles you draw will connect to make a star. Fill the star in with your paint pen.
5. Once the stars have dried, draw three dots on each concave ridge (the ridge dipping down). The row of dots should fill out the space on the concave ridge between the filled in center star and the dot detailing on the edge of the styrofoam star.
6. To make the design on the convex part of the star ridges (the ridge rising up), draw a line about 2/3 of the way up from the point of the drawn star to the edge of the styrofoam star. At the end of the 2/3 line, draw a swoop to the right and finish the line with a little circle. Draw a matching swoop 1/3 of the way down the line. From the bottom of the line, draw a line that goes more out than up, then swoop the end of the line up and back in and down to connect it and make a half a heart shape. From the connection point, draw another little line that goes out and back up and in to connect the rest of the heart shape. Draw a little heart at the top of the styrofoam star point. Rotate the styrofoam star and repeat the design on the right side of the remaining 4 points, and let dry. Note: I start on the right side of this design because I'm right handed, but if you're left handed, it will be easier to start on the left side.
7. Use the lines from the design on the right side of each star point as a guide to determine where each part of the design should start for the left side of each star point. The designs don't need to be perfect to look good, but it the center point always matches up, it will look best. Draw in the left side of the design on each star point, and let dry.
8. Heat your glue gun. Cut the yarn to the length you want your garland to be. I cut mine to be about 3' 6". Make a knot on each end of the yarn to stop the yarn from unravelling. Fold the yarn in half to find the center point, and mark that point with a pen to find where you'll place star number 4. Fold the yarn in half again to find where you'll place stars number 2 and 6. Based off of those markings, find the midway points and mark where you'll place stars number 1, 3, 5, and 7.
9. Add a dollop of glue to the back of one of the star ridges. It should be about 1 cm down from the edge (if you glue it in the center, the weight of the star will make it rotate forward and the design won't show). Glue each star to its marked spot on the yarn. Note: If you used a center design other than a star that has a clear "up" direction (for example, a heart), make sure that design is facing up before gluing it onto the garland.

Notes

If I were to make this again, I would choose a paint color and paint pen color that had a larger difference in color. I think this would be really striking with colors that have a higher contrast.

I used a dollar store paint pen for this project, but I'd recommend using a better one if you have it. Since making this I've noticed that their paint pens can smudge a lot if they come into contact with any moisture.

This would look great with some other decorations between the stars! I think wood beads tied in place between the stars would look especially good.

Try making this super cute DIY star garland for Xmas to hang across your mantle!