2 Types of Simple Summer Garlands

August 2, 2016

Garlands are often used nowadays in holiday festivities to cover banisters or mantles with evergreens, holly, and beautiful poinsettias. But the wonderful thing about garlands is that they can be used all year round to create a delicate and inviting touch to your home. Summer blooms, fruit, greenery, and other materials can become a beautiful addition to your home with a little creativity and time. Here is a short list of materials you can use. You can use one or two of these items for a simple, elegant design or all of them to create colorful, full summer garlands.

Dried Flowers

Dried flowers are simple to make and can look wonderful hung in a doorway or down from your ceiling. You can add these to my home to make it feel more inviting and add a nice light scent throughout the room. Floral garlands are very easy to make. All you need is a lot of flowers, about three to six feet of string, depending on where it will be hung, and a needle.

Sit somewhere comfortable among the flowers and begin piercing the buds with the needle. If you pull the needle through the back of the flower, the face of the flower will not be harmed and it will be securely fastened to the string. Once on the string, gently and slowly pull to the end of the string. Be sure to do this while the flowers are fresh. Otherwise, they will disintegrate when pierced. Once done, tie both ends of the string and then hang where it is desired.

Dried Fruits

Using fruit can be a great way to incorporate color and scent into your home easily and beautifully. Use fruit that can be cut easily, like oranges, lemons, limes, apples, and tangerines. To add some different textures, you can also add flowers and pom poms. It makes for a fun and interesting garland. To dry the fruit before placing on the string, you will need parchment paper, baking sheets, and an oven.

Cut all of the fruit and place them on the parchment paper on the baking sheets. Once all of you fruit is ready to be dried put your oven on its lowest setting and allow it to preheat. Once the oven is ready, place the trays on the racks. Dry for ten minutes. When you take them out try to poke the fruit with a fork. If it goes through it needs additional drying, if it is hard to the touch than you are ready to make your garland!

Now that your fruit is dried, get three to six feet of string and attach a heavy-duty needle to one end. Pierce the top of the slices with the needle and gently pull the fruit down to the other end of the string. Tie a small knot with every slice so they stay put. Allow plenty of space, about one to two inches, between the fruit slices. Then, tie both ends and voila – a beautiful new garland for your home!