DIY Felt Ball Garland (and another feature!)

Here is a DIY that has been in the works for a while...it's one of those projects that you have set aside to work on whenever you're watching crap tv or something you don't care too much about. That way you don't get bored, but you also don't stab your fingers too many times in the process (I did plenty of that...). Credit for this idea goes fully to my wonderful, smart, sweet, beautiful house mate Sydney - while she was visiting home her Aunt taught her how to needle felt and she came back with the idea to make garlands for our rooms! She also made the cutest little porcupine. Anyway, we put together a little movie for how to do this since it's kind of hard to show in pictures.

Here's what you need:

-Felting wool

-A felting needle

-A foam block (or a magazine...something so you don't poke holes in your table)

-String

-A needle

Here's what ya do:

1) Pull out enough wool to make your ball (you can always add on more if it ends up being too small).

2) Roll the wool up into a tight ball.

3) Get your foam block and needle and begin poking away at your ball, making sure to correct its shape as you go if need be (watch out for your fingers!). Tighten up the ball as you go and add in pieces of felt to fill in the holes. It'll take a little while to get the hang of it, but you can do it! I have faith in you!

4) Keep poking until your ball is relatively firm and holds it's shape.

5) Once you have all of your balls (and have patched up all your battle wounds), begin stringing them together with your needle and thread.

6) Lastly, space the balls out. Be careful not to get everything all tangled...I did that. Oops.

Hang up your garland and enjoy your pretty new decoration!

PS I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been reading Paper Umbrella - this new site has been up for less than a month and today I passed 2,000 views...that's nothing compared to some bloggers, but I'm really excited to see my little space on the internet growing. It's also been great getting more feedback from readers and meeting other bloggers - I love hearing from you! Thanks for letting me share my life and projects with you! :)

PPS I hope you enjoyed the soundtrack to our little video. It was that or Camera Obscura and Syd and I were just feeling the hip hop tonight ;)

PPPS I am featured today over on Lauren's blog Tastes Like Love! You should definitely go check out her blog.

Happy Friday!