Hallowenn Felt Garlands

I made my first felt bunting a few weeks ago for the Auburn/UT game and it turned out so stinkin' cute (if I do say so) that I thought to myself, "Why not make some cute Halloween garlands, while you're at it?!" So I did.

All last week, I sat in the pick-up line at the Mini's school with my scissors and felt and cut out my shapes, and now that they're completed and hung, I knew this would be a simple no-sew (yes, that's right, I said NO-SEW) project that many of you would love. As a bonus, it's also a recession friendly project because each garland cost me around $5. And that's something my wallet can get behind!

You Will Need
-scissors
-felt (go t JoAnn's and it's on sale this time of year in just about every color under the sun. Have them cut yardage for you. I bought 1/2 yard and it was perfect for my 2 garlands. Sure, you can go to the craft section and buy it in squares for 4/$1, but trust me when I tell you that you get more for your money when you have the yardage cut)
-glue gun
-narrow bias tape in your choice of color & length (in the sewing area, usually near the thread)

Directions
1) Cruise around online or in clip art for the perfect shape (pumpkin, crossbones, skull, bat, leaves, etc).

2) insert it into a word document in your desired size

3) print out the graphic, then cut it out.

4) trace onto your felt (tip: if using black felt, you will want to use a paint pen for your tracing)

5) cut out your shapes once stenciled onto the felt in the desired quantity (I just wing the quantity. If I need more, I cut more, if I need less, then well, I just throw the left-over away).

6) Meanwhile, heat up your glue gun so it's nice and hot.

7) Lay out your bias tape and decide how you want to make your garland look. I did two looks: 1 look my bats are overlapping and I actually didn't use any bias tape, but for my skull & crossbones, I used the bias tape so I wouldn't have to cut out as many shapes (only because that one had to be really long for my entire entry way banister).

8) Once you have your garland laid out how you want, glue in the appropriate spots, and you're done.

Here are what my end results look like...
(sorry for the terrible cell phone pictures, but honestly, I was too lazy to drag out my camera)

Skull & crossbones down the front stairway

Spooky bats draped across the family room mantle.