Valentine's Day Beaded Garland Decoration

Creating a Valentine's Day garland is the perfect family or group activity because it can be customized to showcase everyone's unique personality and style. This garland features ornaments that can share messages of love and friendship. Get started on this early so you can enjoy this cheery display during the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day.

For a 9' garland, you will need the following supplies:

• One bag of 500 Valentine's Mix Pony Beads - feel free to use any color beads you like, 500 beads equals about 9.5'
• String and ribbon
• Beading Needle (it's easy to make one - see below)
• Single hole punch
• Craft paper (construction paper, art paper, etc)
• Scissors and glue
• Your choice of art or drawing supplies (paint, colored pencils, crayons,etc)
• Optional supplies to add to the fun - glitter, stickers, pom poms, silk flowers, felt, buttons, anything you want to personalize this project

First, string pony beads onto a long string to create the garland. You can string the beads in a pattern or choose a more freestyle, random sequence of colors. One pack of 500 pony beads give you about 9.5' - feel free to make several in various lengths and leave extra string on the end for hanging.

Since pony bead have large holes, you won't require a needle. However, some cords and ribbons are too flimsy or tend to fray, this is when a beading needle can be helpful. If you don't have one, you can make your own, this is a great option because you can customize the eye of the needle to fit your cord. All you need is some wire (it can be craft wire, electrical wire, etc.). Picture are below or see our detailed instructions for making your own beading needle.

Next, create handmade ornaments which can double as Valentine's Day cards and gifts. Our example shows Valentine's Day bookmarks featuring watercolor art, felt heart ornaments, peek-a-boo envelopes and felt flowers featured in our Boho Flower Necklace tutorial.

Your ornaments can be made of almost anything - beads, paper, fabric, felt, or wood, etc. This is a great way to use your miscellaneous leftover supplies and scraps. You can also use paint, glitter, washi tape, stamps and stickers.

After completing the ornaments, the single hole punch will come in handy to make holes so you can tie your ornaments onto the garland with ribbon. You can also hang your ornaments with clothes pins, binder clips or hooks.

To hang your garland, tie loops on each end of the string which can then be put onto hooks, nails or thumbtacks. This garland can hang horizontally, or vertically (you can even hang it from the ceiling). No matter how you hang it, it will be an extra special piece, especially if it was a group effort.

This project gives you a lot of freedom to be creative and express yourself so just have a fun and creative experience with your friends and family. But wait - don't put your supplies away yet - make your own Valentine's Day Cards. Our beaded bookmarks make great gifts and are also very practical!

If you love the look of this garland, here's a tutorial on a year round garland for displaying photos and cards. It's very similar to the Valentine's Day garland and you can choose the bead colors you like for year round display. This beaded garland project is easily adapted for other holidays, birthdays, bridal showers, baby showers and other special events. Pony beads come in tons of colors so you will always be able to create a color palette to fit the occasion.

We'd love to see what you made - please share your pics or share on social media at Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest

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