DIY: How to Make a Paper Circle Garland (No-Sew)

Making your own decorations for your baby shower not only elevates the tone of your decor and space but also gives it the personal touch it deserves for the occasion.

DIY paper circle garlands are cheap to put together, look really pretty, and make for an easy, relaxing Sunday DIY project that beginners won’t have any trouble with.

The best part?

You don’t need to use a sewing machine or sew anything together at all!

Expert makeup YouTuber Deepika from the deepikamakeup channel shares how she made a glistering paper circle garland for her baby shower in her tutorial.

Learning how to make paper garlands is easy as far as garland projects go – there are just two steps!

We’ll look at how she made the lovely garland in this post.

Paper Circle Garland Supplies

You don’t need a ton of supplies for this project, but you will likely need to visit the store. Here’s what you’ll need to pick up:

Steps

01 Punch the Cardstock

All you need to do is punch out circular discs from the cardstock using the paper puncher.

In the video, Deepika recommends using the punching tool upside down, i.e., with the opening facing towards you. You’ll see the punching area, make precise cuts, and ensure that no paper goes to waste.

Also, you can place a container below your craft area – this makes tossing and collecting punched out discs quick and easy.

Deepika uses two punching machines to punch out discs of different sizes, but you can use one to make your paper circles just the same.

Deepika’s granddad helps her punch out discs with precision at 0:57 in her video below.

02 Glue the Circles Together

Spread some glue over the blank side of the cardstock paper, and place the twine over it.

Before it starts to cure, quickly spread some glue on the blank side of another cardstock paper of the same size, and place it over the previous circle, sandwiching the twine in between.

Continue the process with other circles, leaving a little over one inch between circles. Make sure that you switch circle sizes and colors every time as you string them together.

And that’s it – you now have your very own DIY paper circle garland!

Deepika demonstrates how to quickly glue circles together at the 1:46 mark on her video below.

Full Video

Deepika’s short three-minute video gives you a quick lowdown about making attractive paper garlands.

Watching it will give you an idea about the look she was going for – she nails it!

Alternatively, you can use the timestamps above to skip to the step you want a brief demonstration for.

FAQs

My discs are wrinkling from the glue! Help!

Avoid using lighter, thinner paper for this project. Unfortunately, once the cardstock disc wrinkles, there’s nothing you can do to make it better. Always try gluing two discs together before you start to put the garland together – you’ll know if you have the wrong paper before it’s too late.

How many discs do I need to punch for one foot of twine?

There’s no right or wrong answer to this question – but let’s say you use a 1 ½ inch punching machine. A little over one inch (say 1 ½ inch) feels like the ideal distance between two discs, so you must punch out eight discs per foot of twine (since we use one-sided cardstock paper).

Again, it depends on the size of the discs and the design you’re going for, but feel free to calculate your perfect number using this simple equation:

Number of circles per feet= 2 × [12 / Circle size + Ideal distance]

Can I use double-sided paper instead? 

Sure! Using double-sided paper makes things a lot easier – you roughly half the amount of cutting and sticking you need to do. But keep in mind that the glue may ruin the design. If you want to make a flawless garland using double-sided paper, you will need to sew the circles.

Additional Tips

While Deepika makes her paper garland for her baby shower, the shiny, shimmery garland will look perfect in a nursery, and also do the trick in the Christmas time.

You can use Deepika’s method of making paper garlands to make pretty garlands for other occasions, too!

There is an abundance of cardstock styles available, and you can pick what feels right for the occasion or space.

You could also switch material and make something completely fresh.

You can even use this technique to create embellishments for scrapbooking – check out Scrapbooking Coach for some great ideas and tips

Making a balloon garland will work great for birthday parties and other events – you can look at event décor expert Anastasia Onishchenko’s channel for ideas!

Deepika mainly uploads makeup tutorials every Thursday, but there are about a dozen other super creative DIY projects on her YouTube channel.

Her DIY videos cover everything from closet organization to home décor – so make sure you check out deepikamakeup!