Decorating a Cheap Garland for Christmas

Tools and Materials

• Garland
• White paint
• Pine cones
• Hot glue
• White chalk
• Christmas lights
• Faux snow (I have provided a recipe if you can't find this in your area)

I wrapped on the lights first and then spot painted the garland.

I couldn't find reasonably priced snow sprays, paints, or powders anywhere in Japan, so I experimented with making my own. For my first batch of snow, I took 12 paper towels, made them damp, squeezed as much water as possible out of them and then threw them in the blender. (I have a blender only used for crafts) When they dried out in a bowl, I mixed in some white paint and rolled some pinecones in the mix. For my second batch of snow, I blended white chalk in my blender and mixed the chalk powder in with white paint. I used this mix on the garland. Painting the garland was messier than I anticipated. The garland was a springboard for the chalk powder paint. I had to paint gently, because the garland flung the paint in the air.

I hot glued on the pinecones and then painted the garland again.

I really like how it turned out. I like the painted look of the garland and how the texture on the pinecones is different. I added ornaments, but ended up taking them off. I like the simple look of this. When packing and unpacking, little flakes come off, but they're really easy to clean up.

I used fairy lights and not as much paint on this mega long garland. I add the lights to the garland when its in place and take the lights off when its time to pack it away.

Isn't it beautiful? Let me know in the comments below how you spruce up dollar store decor!

How to Store Supplies

I use "shrink mini wrap" to pack my garland...and everything else. Its a stretchy plastic film on a handheld dispenser that you can wrap around anything. This stuff helps me save so much space!

EDIT:

The plastic shrink wrap film I use is made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and it is easily recycled. I recycle everything!