Christmas Chain

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The Christmas chain tradition has been a delightful way to count down the days until the festive holiday season. Each link on the chain represents a day closer to Christmas, and it's a joyful activity to remove one link every day, building excitement and anticipation. Kids especially love taking part in this simple yet charming tradition, eagerly waiting to shorten the chain as the big day approaches. From crafting colorful chains at home to buying pre-made ones, the Christmas chain brings a warm, cozy feeling to households everywhere, spreading cheer and creating a lovely countdown to the most wonderful time of the year.

Christmas Chain
Medium: Cardboard & No-Sew Fabric

MATERIALS

oCardboard Tube (wrapping paper roll, paper towel roll, or whatever is handy)

oFabric Scraps (again, whatever's handy in as many or few styles as you like)

oRibbons & Trims (optional)

TOOLS

oScissors
oHot Glue & Glue Gun

1. PREPARE THE LINKS. Cut the tube lengthwise down the center of the tube to open it up. Then cut 3/4" strips to create the base for the links. They'll be a little curved which is great because they'll bend easily back into a tube shape when you need them to.

2. PREPARE THE FABRIC. Measure the cardboard strips you've cut, then add an inch on all four sides to determine the size of the fabric rectangle you'll need. For example, I used a 1 1/2" tube which created a cardboard strip 5" long x 3/4" wide. I then cut my fabric to 7" x 2 3/4"

3. CALCULATING HOW MANY LINKS YOU'LL NEED. For my project, I made up a few links and put them together then measured it. It turns out, nine links = about 1 foot of chain. I want my chain to be about 5 feet long, so I calculated 9 x 5 = 45 links.

4. WRAP THE BASE. Just like a Christmas present, wrap the cardboard links with your fabric, securing it in place with hot glue. Now, here's where I need to say do as I say, not as I did. BE SURE TO PUT YOUR HOT GLUE GUN ON LOW. The glue seeps through the fabric and let me tell you, OUCH! (Note: hot glue guns are NOT for kids -- at least, not on this project.)

5. LINK THE LINKS. Now, just in case you don't remember the process, start by creating one link, gluing the two ends together. At this point, if you'd like, add some ribbon or trim.

Then, thread the next strip through the link and glue it together. Note: I used a clip to hold the two ends together for a few minutes just to be sure the glue was set.

6. ADD RIBBONS & TRIMS. This might sound a bit funny, but if you want to add ribbons or trims to each link, you have to do it AFTER you've linked it to the chain so that you aren't dealing with mis-matched edges. I added bits of ribbon to each link, again using hot glue, attaching it a bit at a time.

This one takes a bit of time to get going, but once you've got your system down, the links come together quickly, just like when you were in kindergarten!

accessories, easy diy, project

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