accordian garland....and iraq

With the exception of Big Bang Theory, Access Hollywood, football and Baby Einstein....I watch zero television.  I know, it's pathetic.  But, don't worry, I log onto People.com on a daily basis and that keeps me fully informed :)!!  Ohhh...wowsers...my poor husband.  He came home today and asked me, " So, honey, did you hear what happened in Iraq today?  I obviously said, "No....are we in trouble?" (part of me actually enjoys not watching the news because it means I can be less afraid than I already am).  Sometimes I really do think the world has gone mad.  I am all the more thankful for where we live!

He told me the news of the bombings and it made me cringe. To be perfectly honest, the madness scares the s*** out of me.  I worry about the future of our kids! Sooo....that is why I stick to my love of being a mom and creating!  (but mind you, this post lacks a few photos because obviously I am too absentminded to take pics of the final product, sorry guys!)  But NO FEAR......the process is atleast HERE....for a lovely accordian banner (which idea I actually stole from my friend, Jenny) Thanks Momma!:

If you are like me, about 7 years ago when scrapbooking was hot, you collected a TON of scrapbooking paper with the idea of actually doing something with it.  Then you never did.  I simply am not that organized to scrapbook...it's just not my thing.  That's why I keep a journal for Leila.  So, I am left with all this scrapbooking paper to do something with!  Aha!

Cut each piece you have into halves and fold them as you see above into little accordian pieces

Glue the edges together until you build a "flower".  I ended up using about 5 "accordians" for each flower in order to give it enough weight and depth (you want your accordian to look rich!)....so that one accordian flower looks like this:

You can decorate the center however you like...I cut out felt circles and then glued some pearl looking balls int the middle that I had stored away (not pictured).

I ended up stringing about seven of these together by glueing ribbon behind them.  You want to use a heavy duty ribbon because the garland is heavy when all is said and done.  For the middle garland, I cut out an M for my sister (since her last name begins with an M) and glued it on top.  This way, she can use it all year round. 

Unfortunately I don't have a pic of the final garland : (....but:

I promise, I did finish!  If you look close, beneath the Us mag....it really is there, folded up and ready to hang for my sis !  I won't lie...this project took me some time but it is SO worth it.  Your garland, in the end, really is very pretty and so special!