FELT ACORN GARLAND

When our sweet niece was legally adopted we were fortunate enough to go to the courthouse, witness this and explain to our kids that their new cousin was now legally part of our family. On our way out to the car after, I noticed a ton of acorns had dropped from the trees. As my husband loaded our kids, I gathered as many as I could and shoved them in my pocket. I knew I needed to do something with them to remember her special day.

I love felt ball acorns, I made a bunch for our Thanksgiving table in 2011 and I figured I could do the same with these and turn them into a garland for her baby room. So I ordered several felt balls (my favorite sources are here and here).

Now, just a few words about felting balls... I have tried this... and now I have a ton of roving left over after my sad discovery that purchasing felt balls is much more desirable than making felt balls. If making them with soap and water, it's tough on the hands and worse on the patience level. But I've provided links (above) for those that are feeling the need to learn. There is another method, needle felting that maybe I'll try one day.

After the balls came in the mail, this project took all of 20 minutes.

SUPPLIES
Acorn Caps
Felt Balls
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
String or Twine - I chose twine which is why I used hot glue.
* If using string, get a Felts Needle to string these through the ball.
Explanation Tag - I created a tag in Illustrator and printed on sticker paper.
Scissors

PROCESS
1. Line up all of the caps
2. Line up all of the balls in front of the caps to get your color pattern in order.
3. Hot glue the inside of the cap, place the string on top of the glue and then place the ball on top of the string and press into the cap.
4. Repeat this for all of the caps and balls, spacing them as desired. I spaced mine about 1.5" apart.
5. Snip off the stems of the acorn caps if there are any.
6. If you'd like a little tag included place that around the string at the first acorn.