Silver Lining: Easy Tissue Paper Garland

A few days ago I made this garland to hang up for Galentine's Day. (Although actually, my plans have changed, and I'll be out of town, so I won't be able to host Galentine's Day this year, and I'm actually pretty sad about it. Galentine's Day is one of my all-time favorites!) To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure how this was going to turn out when I started, but I ended up really liking it, so I thought I'd share my tutorial with you today.

The three things I like most about this garland:

1. It's easy. Like, really easy.
2. It costs $3 or less to make.
3. You can change out the colors to work for any occasion.

EASY TISSUE PAPER GARLAND:

MATERIALS:
Tissue paper. You need about one $1 pack per color. So if you want three colors, it's $3. I actually ordered this multi-pack for $12 a few months ago, and used tissue paper from that. (I would highly recommend that multi-pack, by the way. I use it for everything. Most recently for this DIY stained glass and for these presents.) But if you don't have a multi-pack, just get one pack per color that you want.

Thread. Really, any kind will do.

Needle. If you happen to have a thicker embroidery needle and thicker thread, it will be a little sturdier, but I just used a small needle and regular thread and mine is totally fine.

Scissors.

Tape. This is to hang up the garland. I used plain 'ole Scotch tape, and then put a bit of Washi tape over the top for decorative purposes, but any kind will work!

HOW TO:

1. Cut your tissue paper into strips about 4" wide. Cut wider or thinner depending on how thick you want your garland to be.

2. Accordion fold each strip every 3-4". Important: Lots of tissue paper comes folded into almost a perfect accordion by itself. I only had to change the direction of two folds on my tissue paper strips for it to be a perfect accordion. Easy schmeasy. This is also the part where I turned on Netflix to keep me entertained as I folded.

3. Thread your needle.

4. Pull your needle through the center of each strip of folded tissue paper. It should look like this:

5. Hang the ends of your garland. At this point, it will look like a clump of tissue paper in the middle of your thread. Don't despair! You didn't do it wrong!

6. Fluff each tissue paper strip. I liked to crinkle each strip a little bit for added definition. As you go, move the strips out from the center to the ends of the garland. As you can see, my garland is pretty dense. I could have done a lot more fluffing and had a lot longer strands.

7. Done!