Fish - Starfish Garland

Hi everyone,  I've been so absent and I have no excuses at all! Summer time, the kids at home, this wonderful weather, little trips here and there... the list can go on and on... and my vacation time comes in August ;)  I've worked on many projects but I haven't been able to edit the pictures of write about them, so in the meantime this little project would do.

When I revealed my Summer mantel some of you asked me about this garland, this post is the answer to that.

I bought this... hmmm how do you call it? it was only two fishes and three starfishes strung together? Yeah, only five wooden shapes and at the top two pieces of drift wood and a rock in the middle.
Well, it was an end of season find I got at Ross last year, like about a dollar.  I love the wooden pieces.

When I was done working on the boat art and was ready to dress up the mantel, that little "garland" appeared on my Summer stash.  The problem...  It was too short :( and you know how things go when you are ready to take pictures of that project you just finished...   You need to find those little extra pieces SOON.

Well, there I was...  It was perfect, just too SHORT.

What to do?   Of course, make it longer!  

For this one I have to give big thanks to my husband, he keeps on bringing home old posters. At his work many of these posters are discarded and he brings them home for me to recycle them :)

The fish and starfish silhouettes were traced on the white parts of this poster (the back was white at some point, I had already spray painted it),  and then they were cut out.

Using a similar string, all the shapes were taped to it.  It couldn't be any easier.
Some extra shapes were laid on the mantel too.  Whoever goes on that boat is going to have a good catch :)

My poster board silhouettes are not as pretty as the wooden shapes but from far away you cannot tell.

Don't you agree?

The blue bottles remind me of the color of the sea.

You can find the free fish and starfish silhouettes right HERE if you want to make your own garland.

For the diy sail boat art click HERE.

On another note, check out these cute metal tags for a herb garden,

 my full tutorial on how to make them is right here at Pretty Handy Girl!