Chevron Paper Garland {and Valentine Mantel}

There are so many beautiful colors of paper these days. Earlier this week, I gathered a gorgeous selection from a local scrapbook store to match my heart canvas art. I had this idea in my head to make some pretty hanging garlands that would flutter and spin around. I wanted to incorporate a geometric pattern, and settled on a V-shape {chevron} design. The finished effect is even better than I imagined...

When I finished hanging them up, I moved my gold glass candles underneath to make them look like paper trees. What do you think? They kind of look like hearts, or even a cupid's arrow! I'm loving the combo of gold, coral, pink and gray.

Making these chevron paper garlands was really fun. I can't take my eyes of them either... they spin and twist and they're just so pretty! For the step-by-step tutorial, keep reading...

I started out with this lovely paper... and my Fiskars paper trimmer.

I folded my paper towards the middle, and cut it down the center {I was left with two 6"x12" pieces, folded in half.} Then I started cutting out my chevrons. I placed the paper at an angle and lined it up with the top corner {on the fold} and cut down at an angle. To make my next cut, I slid the paper over and lined it up with the edge of my paper trimmer. This gave me about a 2" wide chevron {V} piece.

{optional:} I alternated and cut some of the pieces about half an inch smaller so I'd have a variety of widths. 

Then I laid out my pieces to create the color pattern and sewed them together on my sewing machine. I left about a 3/4 inch gap between pieces as I sewed them together. {Make sure to leave enough thread at the top so you have enough to hang up your garland.}

Once my chevron garlands were complete, I hung them from the hooks in my ceiling... {they come in very handy for mantel decor!} I added my heart canvas art, and a framed card I got in an 8-pack for $1. I added a gold glitter heart to the outside of the frame for a little extra sparkle :)

A little nod to last year's mantel.... a stack of Love Letters.

With the leftover paper scraps, I made another little project I'll share soon. I'm loving this burst of color in my living room! I may just leave them up after Valentine's Day :)

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