Paper Garland

My darling mother-in-law gave me my very first sewing machine for Christmas.  Since  I haven't sewn since 8th grade Home Ec, I'm definitely procrastinating with the whole pillow-making thing.  So, I asked myself, what else can I do with the machine?  I remember this great post I came across not too long ago on The Gifted Blog.  I'm a fool for paper crafts...maybe because punches and paper cutters leave little room for error.  Put my love of paper with my excitement for my new sewing machine and you get...

I had motives, here.  While paper garland is charming in its own right, I had Jessie's bridal shower gifts to wrap.  This gave me a perfect excuse to use my sewing machine on paper.  Plus, I had left over paper from her guest book.  So I got all of my tools...AKA, punches.

Then I organized all of my paper, threaded my bobbin' and got to it. I know this isn't the best workspace, but it will do for now.  

I couldn't believe how easy this was...even for a beginner like me!  I just kept the machine going and each time the paper would get through the presser foot, I would throw another one under the needle.  Be warned...these tangle super easily!  I had to keep pausing to stretch everything out.  All of my best efforts, and I still ended up with some knots that just couldn't be fixed.  

Once the garland was done, I used it to accent Jessie's gifts.  I wrapped them in simple craft paper.  This is my favorite way to wrap gifts because it is a blank slate for decorating!  Then, I wrapped the garland around the gifts, taping some paper circles down here and there to hold it in place.  

I think it came out great.  Notes for next time...do a better job at preventing knots and wrap the garland more tightly around the gifts!  The best part of this is that it really brings together the colors of Jessie's bridal shower invites and guest book.  I love me a good theme!