Stress-Relieving Craft: 30-Minute Nature Garland (Free Printable)

The first few months of the year might not be as stressful as December, but let's face it, life is stressful in general. I don't like it, I don't like it one bit. So, any chance I get to sit down, do something I enjoy and just relax, I'm doing it!

This craft was both a joy to design and thoroughly relaxing to make. My colour printer ran out of ink (adding a bit of stress) but I quickly decided to ignore that fact and just print off the nature garland illustrations in black and white. When you download the Nature Garland PNG file you get both a colour version and a black and white version (both in two sizes).

I went with the smaller version of the black and white design. 

The way it printed made colouring it in super quick and easy and the end result was fabulous if I do say so myself.

I love a good craft where perfection is not required. We want the experience to be stress-relieving, not stress inducing. The whole process was done in less than 30 minutes with complete focus on enjoying creating and not making a masterpiece. Still, somehow it turned out so cute!

Before We Begin

It's not a complicated process. In fact, you probably don't even need to read through all five steps to be able to do this craft. I've made some easy to follow images to make it super simple.  If, however, you enjoy reading, I've also added some extra details and ideas in addition to the instruction images, so read on my little scholars and creatives.

What You Will Need

First off a functional printer is a must. Once you've printed the page or pages you want to use you will need scissors, tape or a glue gun and if you want to colour the illustrations in yourself you'll need colours of your choice. I used colouring pencils, but watercolour, crayons, alcohol markers or any other type of colours you fancy should do just fine.

Now all you need to do is download the Nature Garland file which you will find here for free.

Step 1

Have you downloaded your file? As you may have noted on the product listing it is free and is sent to your email as a zipped PNG file. If you don't know how to open and access a zipped file, worry not, I only just learned about zip files. All you have to do is right click the file and select Extract All from the drop down menu. 

Once you've got that sorted you can choose whether you want to print off the larger size or the smaller size file and whether you want to print it in colour or in black and white.

I promised some bonus ideas in the written part of the instructions, here it is; You can print off multiple copies of each file to make your garland full of leaves, acorns and mistletoe. I used the smaller size in black and white and only printed off one page, but I will most definitely be adding more illustrations to my garland at a later date (might just post a photo on our socials).

If you chose to print off the file in colour you can skip right over step 2 and go straight to step 3.

Step 2

It's time to colour! I grabbed a few shades of colouring pencils I thought would go well together, all muted, moody and earthy shades. 

I didn't try to blend any shades or even bother colouring in every inch. I just placed a bit of colour here and a bit there, scribbling away with reckless abandon. 

My bonus tip for this section is that you could also try fun and bright shades - or go with whatever shades you currently have in the room or space you intend to hang up the garland. Got mustard coloured walls? use a lot of mustard and yellow shades in your garland. Like to insert some pastels or bright colours into your space? Go for it! pick the brights or the pastels and make your leaves and acorns lively and fun. 

Step 3

It's time to grab the scissors. It's important to note that the illustrations do not come pre-outlined. This means you can decide how much white space you want to leave around each cutout. 

This might also be a good place to pause the music and go grab a fresh cup of tea before moving on to Step 4. If you're using a glue gun for this craft you might want to plug it in now too.

Step 4

If you picked the glue gun I am just going to go ahead and assume you've used it at least a couple of times before and know to be extra careful not to burn yourself on the hot melted glue.

 I carefully put a little dot of glue on the back of the cut out illustration before pressing the string onto the glue, finishing the process for each cutout before moving on to the next piece. It got messy. There were thin stretched out glue all over the place. 

Not to worry though! you can remove excess glue once it has reached a safe, cool temperature.

If you picked tape simply cut a short piece and apply it over the string pressing it down to attach to the cutout on both sides of the string. Easy as pie!

Moving on to step 5, which is optional.

Step 5

I wanted a bit more magic on the front of the leaves so I cut a couple of sections of string, about 20-30cm or 8-12in each (you can always shorten the ends later) and tie a little bow. This step does requite strong double sided tape if you are not using a glue gun. 

With the glue gun pop a little dot of glue to the top of the front of each leaf (one at a time) and add your pretty little bow before it cools down.

Et Voila! You've done it! 

In Conclusion

I hope you've thoroughly enjoyed this cute little craft and that you come back for more in the future. The Given Garden offers a large selection of cozy printable hobbies. Everything on our website is free since we run completely on donations. It's important to note that donations are NOT required in order for you to download and enjoy our products. We want to make it as easy as possible for individuals and families around the world to access fun and easy crafts, colouring pages, activity bundles and more. 

Another way you can support our efforts is by sharing our cozy hobbies with your family and friends. Feel free to tag us if you decide to post your finished garland on social media. We love to see your creations!