This natural cotton Christmas garland is such a snowy, soft and fluffy way to decorate your fireplace for Christmas! With about 30 raw cotton bolls (not to be confused with cotton “balls”), a piece of string and a little hot glue, it takes about 15 minutes to put this precious Christmas decoration together and hang it from the mantle.
I love natural Christmas decorations. I live in Brooklyn, and many of us don’t have the luxury of closet space, so storing Christmas decorations requires a considerable amount of real estate. I prefer to make Christmas decorations I can dispose of guilt-free at the end of the season.
I love looking out my window and seeing my neighbors pick the flower bouquet ornaments of my discarded Christmas tree and I also love making citrus ornaments with friends. It’s become such a fun tradition.
I think I’ll try to find space to store this garland for next year though. It’s so soft and makes my home feel so gentle. I paired it with with just 2 strings of yarn and a lace bow. Nice and simple.
How to Make Cotton Christmas Garland – Step by Step
1. Heat your hot glue gun and lay your first cotton boll face down on a table. Add a little dot of hot glue to one of the points of the cotton shell. Blow on it a little so it’s not too wet when you attach it to the string.
2. Making sure you leave a foot of string bare (you’ll use this to tie the garland to the mantle), gently press the string into the glue, using a tool like a chopstick to make sure it’s fully adhered. Repeat the process. Note: Don’t glue the cotton balls together or they won’t drape as nicely.
3. Nail one nail on each side of your mantle, and one just under it in the center. Use a small twisty-tie to attach the center of your garland to the middle (or simply tie it if you can).
4. Then tie the ends to the nails on either side.
Common Questions
You can find them in specialty florists, craft stores or you can easily find them online. I found mine on Amazon.
Measure the length of your mantle and add about 20 inches so you can drape it. Then, add 2 more feet to leave as extra length on each side that will be used to tie it to the mantle.
I simply nailed small nails into the sides of my fireplace, then one right in the center under the mantle. I first attached the center of the garland with a small twisty-tie to the center nail, then draped, and tied the ends to the side nails.
Very carefully lay it into a study box, making sure nothing can squash and flatten them out.
• 30 raw cotton bolls without stems
• hot glue gun
• about 10 inches of string ( use measurement instructions above )
• a tool to gently press the string into the glue (I used a chopstick)
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