My mama’s extraordinary talent for styling for the seasons started at home but extended to the White House, so when I say holiday decorations are important to us, I’m not kidding. Moving around as we did when I was growing up, the Christmas decorations were some of the most carefully packed items. There’s nothing like being in a strange new place and opening a well-loved box to see familiar trinkets to help lock in the seasonal mood. (The hedgehog goes on the tree first!)

As I began to have my own homes to decorate, I have tended towards the Scandinavian style. Partly because the look of the straw ornaments, red-and-white paper goods, fabric stars, and natural wood are so timeless and beautiful, and partly because those natural materials can really take a beating as I continued to move frequently.

I love a good garland. And that’s where it gets a bit tricky.

Natural garlands (like their real tree counterparts) are fraught with environmental concerns around water usage, pesticides, and monoculture land usage. Not to mention they need constant misting, vacuuming up dead needles, and there’s the fire hazard if you’re using open flames in your decorations.

And then there are artificial garlands. Fake greenery has improved exponentially over the last decade or so - my mama has a juniper garland that gets brought out every year and it is exceptionally realistic. The reusability of artificial holiday greens is a plus, of course, but that is because they’re made of PVC or plastic materials which usually are of the non-recyclable variety. Even faux will lose its bloom after a while, and could wind up in a secondhand shop (ideally) or the landfill (womp-womp).

(Learn more about sustainable holiday greenery here, here and here.)

Recently, handcrafted paper flowers and greenery have also become a craft specialty. They look amazing, but paper has two drawbacks for my lifestyle: 1. I don’t have the dexterous finesse for papercrafts and 2. the best holiday decor IMO can be stuffed in a box without much thought about what 11 months of crumpling will do to it.

Which brings me to this year’s garland solution: felt!

For this project, I knew I wanted it to be quick, easy, no-sew (don’t want to drag out the machine) and no-glue (minimal mess and plastic products please!). I’d seen a few bright, multicolor garland ideas, but I wanted to make something a little more natural-looking that would go with the Scandi-style decor I already have. I purchased 1-1.5 yards of 3 colors of felt and that has yielded 6 5-6ft garlands to go on my mantle and possibly around my front door.