Simple Summer Cherries

I have this cheap strand of wooden bead holiday garland that I’ve picked apart and used before in other projects, such as threading advent calendar spools, but thought of another cute use for the beads today.You probably won’t come across this exact garland outside of a lucky find at a thrift store, so look for 1/2″ wooden macrame beads in places like Etsy HERE.

You can opt to keep the beads as-is or add a little bling. I strung a few onto wire, covered in glue then red German glass glitter.For the cherry leaves, I ran a page from a tattered book through the printer, printing a block of green onto it.I covered the green page with Matte Modge Podge, and not being the most patient of crafters, dried the page with my hairdryer. The Mod Podge gives the paper a more plastic surface making it much less likely to tear.I folded the page and cut out leaf shapes.
For the cherry stems, I used both Divine Twine and craft thread (found in the embroidery thread aisle at the craft store.)I strung two beads and created bulky knots by twisting the ends into a circle several times before cinching.I added a dab of glue to the knots and pulled them up and lodging them just inside the beads. I trimmed away the remaining string leaving just a tiny bit remaining.I cinched the leaves in the center and crisscrossed them across the string holding the beads, just a bit off center to allow for one cherry to hang lower than the other. With another length of string I tied the leaves and stems together.Make lots of extras to keep on hand to embellish pins for your cork board, to tie around jars, or embellish gifts.