Tie another one on

When it comes to Christmas decor I like homemade decorations with a country feel. Most of my decorations are things I have made or gifts that someone else has made and given to me. It makes decorating for Christmas like rereading a good book. Each item coming out of the box tells a story.

This burlap garland is something I made years ago around the same time that I made my holiday wreaths. I had bought a variety of Christmas pattern material and, after making the wreaths, I already had some of the fabric cut in strips. I have used this garland with the attached clothes pins to hang my Christmas cards along my bannister.

This year I have decided to switch it up and decorated this blanket ladder with the old garland, some lights and a few other decorations.

To make your own scrap fabric garland, you need to have at least two different fabrics and some burlap string or a set of Christmas lights. I like to have four tones of fabric: reds, greens, whites and beiges. You could also use plaid material from old pyjamas or a shirt. I cut a whole bunch of strips about 5 inches long and 1/2 inch wide (slightly shorter than the ones used on the wreaths).

I like to lay out the different colours in a pattern to see how it looks.

I then put whatever I have of those colors in piles and start tying a pattern on the burlap string. You don’t have to tie a full knot, just left over right and pull. If you added ribbon or slippery fabric, you may want a full knot.

After I started tying the pieces on the burlap string, I remembered the string of clear lights that I bought on clearance after Christmas last year.

I dug them out and decided to use it instead of the string. I fit five strips between each light.

I continued tying up to the last bulb.

The material will fray a bit but I find it just adds to the rustic charm.

I normally have a string of clear lights woven around some garland on my bannister. This year I used this string to add some colour. It turns out that this 100 bulb light string fits perfectly.