Wood Bead Garland Decorating Ideas

This DIY wood bead garland is not only easy and inexpensive to make, but it's the perfect addition to your fall home decor.

fall wooden farmhouse beads wrapped around an orange and white pumpkin

Fall is my favorite season. I absolutely love everything about it, from the crisp sunny days to the beautiful colors of the leaves turning . It is also the time my house looks the coziest. I love to add fall colors everywhere–inside and outside. Check out my post, The Easy Way to Create a Beautiful Fall Planter to see how to bring a touch of fall to YOUR outdoor space.

Wood bead garland is all over the place right now, but I really wanted one that was fall-ish (is that a word?) , so I decided to make my own. I knew I would create a tassel on one end, but I had to search for something to go on the other end. I found these pumpkins at Joann's which helped me decide my color scheme.

Here is what you"ll need:

supplies including glue gun, wooden beads, twine, paint and scissors

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10 mm wood beads (I used about 60)
acrylic or chalk paint
twine
paper towels
glue gun
scissors
some sort of trinket to match your theme (or just make 2 tassels)
other things for painting beads-cups, toothpicks, measuring spoon.

cups of watered down paint, paint, and toothpicks

First I needed to make my beads orange and brown. To do this, I mixed the paint with a bit of water in a small cup. Watering down the paint allowed some of the wood to still show through, which was the look I wanted. I added about a tablespoon of paint with about 2 teaspoons of water and swirled it around.

Next I put some wood beads into the paint mixture and let them sit for a couple minutes. I used a toothpick to fish them out, letting them dry on a paper towel.

orange wooden beads drying on a paper towel

While the beads were drying, I took a piece of twine and cut it about two feet. I then cut each end at a diagonal, put a dollop of hot glue on both the tips, and squeezed it to make a pointy tip to make it easier to thread through the beads.

Next, I made a tassel at one end. To do this I did the following:

Wrap the twine around your hand about 12-15 times, then remove it and cut it from the spool. Set aside.
Take your bead string and thread one bead onto the twine, then feed the bead string through the middle of the bundle of twine.
Feed the opposite end of the bead string back through the bead. I ended up having to use a beading needle for this, but maybe a toothpick would do.
It should now look like figure 4.

5. Tie a knot above the bead. Cut the bottom of the bundle of twine.
6. Take another piece of twine (about 6″) and wrap it around the bundle, close to the bead end. Tie it and secure it with a bit of hot glue. Cut off the leftover ends.
7. There's your tassel.

Next I started beading my twine. You can use any pattern but I preferred alternating the three colors.

wooden beads with tip of twine hot glued

Once I used all my beads, I tied a knot to secure the end, cut off the extra twine and hot glued a small wooden pumpkin to the end of it. The bead portion of my garland ended up being about 22″ long.