Holiday Weekend Memorial Day Garland

Are you looking for a quick an easy way to get into the holiday spirit for this weekend? So were we until we found this Holiday Weekend Memorial Day Garland on the Martha Stewart website and we knew we had to take a stab at it. Not only is it a festive decoration, but we also wanted to return the favor to Martha Stewart after we were mentioned in their Wedding Magazine this month. It’s an honor, and we are super excited that our envelopes made it to the big time!

This Holiday Weekend Memorial Garland is a simple way to spruce up your backyard BBQ or somewhere inside your house. While it may not be the quickest process, it’s totally worth it so we hope you try it out! You won’t be sorry.

First off, you need your supplies, which luckily most are available on the JAM website.

What you need:

• • Red Paper (24lb)

• • Blue Paper (80lb)

• • Strathmore White Paper (24lb)

• • Scissors

• • A stapler

• • A ruler

• • A pencil

• • A hole puncher

• • Bone folder (optional)

• String or twine

Now that you have your supplies, let’s get down to it!

Step 1

Take a piece of paper and cut it 6 x 11. I used 3 different types of papers, each of a different weight. I found the 24lb paper the easiest to work with. The blue 80lb paper was just a little too thick and the Strathmore paper was a little less firm that I would've liked. I definitely recommend using the red 24lb paper.

Step 2

After you cut your paper, it’s time to get folding. Fold you paper in half short-ways. I made the mistake the first couple times of folding it the long-way and had something resembling a minor Pinterest fail. Holiday Weekend Memorial Day Garland's can be a challenge!

Once you have the first fold made, you’re going to make two more folds, folding the paper the same way. Again, I made the mistake of folding the paper into squares the first time around and that obviously didn’t work out.

As you’re folding, you want to make really neat, crisp folds. I’m assuming this is where the optional “bone folder” comes into play, but since I didn’t know what it was, let alone have it on hand, I just used the handle of my scissors which worked perfectly.

Step 3

Once you have your paper folded, you’re going to unfold it. At this point, your creases should be running vertically. After you unfold the paper, you’re going to refold it into a fan. Make sure that the ends aren’t tucked facing inwards though. Yet again, that’s one of the mistakes I was constantly making.

Step 4

Next, it’s time to break out your ruler and your stapler. Find the middle of the paper on the folded side and make a mark. Also, measure 1 inch from each end, for a total of three marks.

Now, Grab you stapler and staple the middle mark you just made. Make sure the staple is perpendicular to the edge! This is important. And also make sure that this is on the folded edge. You don’t want to staple the fan closed. You don’t have to staple the two end marks. Those are for the next step.

Step 5

Bust out the scissors again and cut from the open end corner of your fan to the mark you made, using those inch marks as a guide. This should create a diagonal cut.

Step 6

Now it’s finally time to get these stars to take shape. You’re going to pinch where the staple is and fan out each end so they end up creating a full circle. Do one at a time and staple them together (I used a regular stapler, but a mini stapler would’ve worked better). Now you have your star. Yay! But you’re not quite done yet- your Holiday Weekend Memorial Day Garland is almost ready.

Step 7

Now, you’re going to take your hole-punch and punch a hole on two folds, making sure there is one fold in between.

Step 8

Now it’s twine time! First, measure the length to however long you need it and tie a knot on one end. Take your twine and thread it through the one set of holes, around the back of the fold in between, and through the other holes. Make sense? If it doesn’t hopefully the picture will help:

Voila! Now repeat with all your stars. Soon you’ll have a beautiful string of holiday weekend Memorial Day garland to decorate any which way you please!