Store bought garlands are cool, but they're always short (like six to nine feet) and expensive (like eight to twelve dollars and beyond). This garland costs about 25 cents to make.

I was inspired by this Martha Stewart Kids magazine garland that used old Christmas cards cut into circles, but I used felt rectangles (easier to cut, readily available cheap material) instead. You can pretty much use anything for this, though, including paper (construction, cardstock, scrap-booking, etc.), cardboard (I did this the other day with painted cardboard discs), bits of ribbon (did this the other day), fake flowers and leaves, etc.

Project Materials:

• Felt (or your choice of materials), 20 cents a sheet, or on hand
• Sewing machine

Total Cost: 20 Cents or FREE

To make:

1. Get your felt ready. In my case, I cut some up into squares.
2. Pull about six to eight inches of thread "tail" and then sew through your first square.
3. Continue to sew a few revolutions without anything under the needle
4. Put your next felt square through -- I start holding the tail out immediately to help the square make it through straight.
5. Repeat.

That's it. Sooooo easy.

You can wrap it around cardboard for a very fancy-schmancy looking way to store it. You can even give it as gifts. It looks fabulous on the tree, on wreaths, around presents, around
garlands, etc. This is the cheapest, most eye-popping, handy, diy garland out there.

If you don't want to spend any money (and I'm all for that, I'm sure you have what you need at home!) try using: cut up junk mail, fabric scraps, yarn bits or six-inch pieces of yarn that you sew through and then tie into a bow, bits of wrapping paper, candy wrappers, magazine cut-outs, etc.