As I was researching some paper flower D.I.Y tutorials, I came across an Etsy shop called KHallbergDesign that had an item called "Anthropologie Inspired Paper Flower Garland" I was like OMG!!! Katherine, the shop owner, hand dyes the paper flowers and strings them onto the clear wire. I was immediately hooked and purchased right away.

Sometimes, when you are trying to decide if something is worth making yourself or spending the money and buying it, I always try to look at the whole package: time (huge one), money (that's big too) and then lastly, the effort. If something is going to take tons of time and be more frustrating than its worth, I try to find shortcuts or buy certain items rather than trying to make the whole thing from scratch. In this instance, I was so happy to find Katherine's shop because she had exactly what I was looking for. So I was happy to support a fellow D.I.Y-er.

After purchasing the flower garlands, I wanted to find a branch to attach them to. I went hunting around for a piece of birchwood. I live right by Lake Erie and a Reservation. Lake Erie has a ton of driftwood that shows up on the shore in the summer and its amazing. So I scoured for a piece that was around the length of my bed.

Now I realize that not everyone has access to something like this—and apparently you're like not technically allowed to take pieces out of a reservation...oops. So Pac Catans sells awesome branches for really inexpensive costs. Check your local craft store!

The hooks I used are the Liberty 5in. Chevron Hook in Flat Black from Home Depot. They sell for $4.97 each and can hold up to 37 pounds. Don't forget to get screws too!

This is what the garland looked like from the shop. I purchased mine in the ombre gold.

I started by laying out each garland strand on the floor, starting from the shortest length ones on the ends, to the longest length ones in the middle. Katherine bags up each strand of garland so they don't get tangled, so its really easy to unpack everything. Then I laid the branch on top and spaced out the garland pieces for equal length between them.

I then used a hot glue gun and glued each strand to the back of the branch. Keeping them equally spaced out while trying to glue them to the branch was the hardest part. If you mess up (like I did a few times) you can use a hair dryer to heat up the hot glue and pull it off the back of the branch and replace it in the right spot. After they were all glued, I trimmed some of them to get the exact desired length I wanted each one to be.

I measured the length of the branch and the length of the strands, spaced out the hooks on the wall, attached them to the wall, set the branch in and well-ah! This was pretty simple, just time consuming. It took me about 2 hours in total.

Hope you enjoy :)

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