DIY Felt Gingerbread Man Garland

Cute DIY felt gingerbread man garland with wood beads and dried oranges. Super easy to make and can totally be customized with your favorite embellishments.

Seasonal Simplicity Series

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! I can’t believe it’s here, but today is the first week of The Happy Housie’s Seasonal Simplicity Christmas Series! Each week we’ll be sharing a variety of Christmas projects to inspire you for the season. From home decor and crafts to seasonal recipes and gift ideas – there’s something for everyone! We’re kicking things off this week with some fun Christmas crafts and DIY projects to get you started for the holidays. Be sure to check out all of the links at the end of the post.

Christmas Decorating

Even if you don’t like decorating until later November or early December, it’s still nice to get a jump start on any Christmas crafts or DIY projects that you would like to do. Time always goes so fast at this time of year and Christmas has a way of sneaking up on you.

I’m going to be doing a bit of a gingerbread theme in our dining room this year along with greens, ambers, and dried oranges. I used the dried oranges in our Christmas kitchen and family room  decor last year and loved them, so I knew I wanted to bring them out agin this year. They still smell amazing even after a year and the color has turned to a pretty shade of amber. I think this felt gingerbread man garland will help tie everything all together perfectly and I can’t wait to get started on the decorating!

DIY Felt Gingerbread Man Garland

This DIY felt gingerbread garland is so cute and very easy to make.  Drape it across the mantel, string it across a shelf, or use it to decorate the tree. You could even make some coordinating Christmas tree ornaments with the gingerbread men and wood beads on their own.

Materials

• twine {I used white twine}
• brown felt and gingerbread man template or pre-cut felt gingerbread men {I got mine at Michaels}
• puffy paint
• dried oranges {find the the tutorial HERE}
• wood beads
• needle with head large enough for the thickness of your twine

Instructions

• If you aren’t using the pre-cut felt gingerbread men, download the gingerbread man template HERE. Cut it out and pin the template to your felt. Trace and cut out as many gingerbread men as needed.
• Using the puffy paint, outline the gingerbread men and add any detailing that you would like. As it dries, there may be a few spots that you need to add some extra paint – just touch it up as needed. The instructions on my puffy paint said to use the steam setting on an iron to create more “puffiness”, but I didn’t find that it really made a difference. Mine still seemed to be puffy.

• Cut the twine to the desired length of garland you would like leaving some extra length for adjustments. I left a good foot on each end. You can always cut it down if needed, but you can’t add extra!
• Design the pattern you would like to use for your garland. I went gingerbread man; mid-sized bead, large-sized bead, mid-sized bead; dried orange; mid-sized bead, large-sized bead, mid-sized bead; and then repeated the pattern.

• Thread your needle and start putting your garland together. I did a knot {or double knot for the large bead} on either side of the beads to hold them in place.

• Continue your pattern for the rest of the garland and you’re done! If you need a little extra length, you can always add a series of wood beads on either end.

Look for our Chistmas dining room tour in a few weeks to see everything put together! I hope you have fun with this!

More DIY Christmas Craft Ideas

If you’re looking for more creative Christmas DIY and craft ideas, check out these posts from my blogging friends.  There are lots of fun projects for you to try!

Dollar Store Crafts: Christmas Nutcracker Makeover at The Happy Housie
Anthropologie Inspired Colorful Holiday Doormat at Tatertots and Jello
DIY Mini Jingle Bell Wreath at Simply, Marie Designs
DIY Moon Shaped Christmas Wreath at Life is a Party

How to Make a Christmas Wood Bead Garland at She Gave it a Go
How to Make a Beautiful DIY Christmas Cloche (Ikea Hack) at The DIY Mommy
DIY Felt Gingerbread Man Bunting at Clean & Scentsible

DIY Wood Bead Garland at Maison de Pax
Orange and Cinnamon Stick Napkin Rings at A Pretty Life
DIY Sleigh Bells at Zevy Joy

You may also like these posts…

Dried Orange Ornaments

Air Dry Clay Stars

DIY Poinsettia Christmas Centerpiece