Decorating for Spring: Circle Garland with Tissue Tassels

Spring break was phenomenally low key.  Loved. It.  
I redecorated the house in preparation for a spring that certainly must come eventually.  And I added a little extra oomph for the Dungeons & Dragons night we hosted last Saturday.  

More on that later.  

I enjoy a good garland, don't you?  How is that for a dramatic change of topic?

I decided to make a simple circle garland for the mantel.  Easy peasy~*

I used a circle cutter from Martha Stewart that I bought a while back for another project that I ended up not doing.  

Funny how many things I get for crafts that never are.  Anyway.  I put it to good use, finally-- along with a metric ton of scrapbook paper that I'd collected over the ages.  

I don't make scrapbooks, mind you.  I just can't resist the paper.  Weird.  Anyway again.  The circle cutter does exactly what it purports to do-- it cuts circles easily.  I do recommend using a self healing mat, otherwise you'll shred whatever surface you are doing the cutting on.

Next step-- use a hole punch to punch two holes per circle.

Thread string or ribbon (I used thin green ribbon, on sale for $0.97 per 10 yds at WallyWorld, woot!).  Space out the circles along the ribbon, then, if desired, you can secure each circle on the back by taping the ribbon where it comes out one hole then into the other.  

For the tassel, I folded a piece of tissue paper in half length wise, then twice more to get an easily cut-able width.  

Cut your fringes, being sure not to cut the fold.  You don't have to be exact about the width of the fringe.

Unfold the tissue paper.  This bit is a pain in the neck, but c'est la vie.

Roll the tissue from one side to the other, as tight as possible.

Twist the center bit along the  fold, between the two fringed sides until the paper turns in on itself creating a loop, then tie it off.

I tied it off with the same green ribbon I used for the garland, then tied it through the loop onto the end of the garland.  I've seen numerous pins where folks have made an entire garland of the tassels-- super easy & cute.

And that is it!  Didn't it come out cute?

I'm going to leave it up for a while. At least until it starts getting hot and I start craving simple, clean spaces.  Right  now I like the coziness of All The Stuff, if you follow.

Isn't the porcelain glove mold on the mantel utterly divine??  My folks got it for me at the last auction.  I adore it.  I'll show you the mirror they also got me, which is now hanging next to me in the craft room, in another post (I've already posted it on Instagram if you are burning with curiosity).  We haven't been to an auction in an age-- we've been treading close to the budget due to Harper Ann's recent acquiring of a driver's license which necessitated our acquiring of a car.  Sigh.  Teenagers.  But hopefully things will even back out soon & we can hit up the auction next month.  I'll take pictures~*