How To Turn Wrapping Paper Scraps Into Beautifully Layered Christmas Garland

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Christmas garlands come in many forms, from fragrant boughs of pine to strings of decorative beads, adorned with bright, poppy colors. If you're an old-school crafter, you can probably also remember decorating with garland chains made from old wrapping paper scraps or construction paper. Due to their design, the links of the chain resemble hearts, making the DIY garland a pretty and festive complement to the other ropes of garland you'll hang up this Christmas.

What makes this craft unique and pretty, aside from the shape of the garland's links, is the wrapping paper you use. For this, it's okay to recycle used wrapping paper if you have some odds and ends of it that are too small or oddly-shaped to wrap a package with. However, if you do repurpose wrapping for this DIY, the sections that you'll use to make the chain links need to be free of tears or folds. 

Homemade gift-wrap materials, like wrapping paper made from paper bags decorated with hand-drawn symbols of Christmas, are also options if you're looking for a very personal touch. There's something to be said for this. A study out of Southern Methodist University suggests that wrapping paper inspires happiness because the colorful wrapping paper, coupled with the act of gift-giving, is psychologically tied to happy events. As such, you may find that the garland made of homemade Christmas paper inspires unexpected feelings of goodwill, thanks to the nostalgia factor brought on by beautifully-wrapped packages in Christmases past. You'll also need a pair of scissors, a yardstick or ruler, a stapler, some clear Scotch Gift Wrap Tape (to hang it with), and possibly a pen.

To make the links for the garland's chain, you'll need to cut strips of paper. Aim for strips that measure 2 inches by 6 inches. If you have trouble cutting the edges straight, you may want to use the edge of the ruler or yardstick to score the paper, folding it around the edge of the yardstick to make a crisp, straight edge. The number of links you need to make depends on how long you need the chain to be.

Once you have the strips cut out, place the patterned side of two strips of paper back to back and staple one end of them together. Next, you'll staple the opposite ends of the papers together, but this time, you'll staple the blank backsides of strips together. If you've done this correctly, a chain link shaped like a heart will form. Next, sandwich the apex of the heart's point inside two strips of paper. The patterned sides of the paper strips should cover the exterior of the link. Staple the two strips of paper on top of the heart-shaped link. Next, staple the opposite ends together, just like you did before to create a second heart-shaped link. Repeat this process until a chain forms from the combined heart-shaped links.

Finally, you'll make more interesting chains of garland if you make half of the chain links from green paper and the other half from red paper. Or mix up the wrapping paper patterns. For example, you could create a Christmas-version of stripe drenching using red striped wrapping paper. This would be especially fun since it looks like candy cane stripes.