Dots!

These dot garlands are not rocket science, but they do take time and patience to make. Totally worth it, though! Is there anything cuter or more cheerful for a party?!

First, I went to Jo-Ann's when they had cardstock on sale for 25¢ and bought 20 sheets of 12x12 in yellow, orange, green, teal and red. I think I ended up using 15 of the 20 sheets.

I borrowed my mom's circle punches (one poor woman I saw online made these and cut out the circles BY HAND--don't do that...sheesh) in about four different sizes. There are two types of punches:

 

This is the old school type. It works, but only if you put in on a table and lean way into it. Just trying to squeeze down on it with your hand will cause a hernia. It is next to impossible!!

 

This lever type is much better--you can just push with your thumb and the circles pop out.

 

I like to turn it upside down while I'm using it so I can see where the cuts are being made and space accordingly.

 

So then I plopped down in front of the new Jane Eyre movie I got from Redbox and punched away. When I punched along a whole row, I used scissors to trim that part away so I could keep punching.

By the way, I give that movie a big fat "MEH". Totally uninspiring, although I did enjoy Michael Fassbender's performance as Mr. Rochester. Anyone else seen it? Maybe the whole dreary Byronic vibe just isn't my cup of tea.

 

ANYway, so I cut out hundreds of circles.

 

Then I sat down and started sewing. I used clear monofilament thread and backstitched on the first circle, and then just kept feeding them through. Sometimes there was about one stitch space in-between circles, and other times they were closer. I just grabbed circles randomly, but tried to have some variety of colors and sizes. Backstitch on your last circle, and then leave about 6-9 inches of thread at the bottom before you cut.

 

It was a lot easier than I'd expected!

 

Once I got started, things moved really fast. I didn't measure or keep track of how long my strands were--I just kind of made it all up as I went along. That's how roll.

 

Then Luke woke up and tried to "help" by handing me circles, throwing a bunch of them like confetti, and crumpling several along the way.

Then, the next morning as I was working on the garlands again, he ate my iPod ear buds again.

 

This time, there was no going back. LUKE!!!!!! Uuugghhhhh. If that boy wasn't so adorable, I'd sell him to the gypsies.

  I finally used up all the circles. I made two gigantically long garlands, and about 25 shorter ones. Total cost: less than $4!

 

I used about 15 for the baby mobile/chandelier for the party. I just tied one of the ends of each strand to the inner part of a plastic embroidery hoop.

 

  

I used a hanger to transport the garlands tangle-free.

Think how awesome this would be with stars or hearts. Seriously cute stuff!