HOW TO MAKE A WOOD BEAD GARLAND WITH SKELETON KEYS TASSELS
Are you in the mood for a quick, easy and affordable farmhouse style craft project? Good, because so am I.
Let’s do some 10 minute crafting and create this lovely wooden beaded garland with tassels and skeleton keys.

I am sure you have seen tons of different pretty wood bead garlands all over the home decor blogosphere by now. These pretty wooden necklaces for your home have become a staple in decorating over the last years. It isn’t hard to understand why because these pretty wood beads and fun tassel garlands don’t leave you wondering how to decorate with them.

How to Decorate with a Wooden Bead Garland
Here are five super easy ideas for how to style a wood bead garland:
- Drape them over a vase,
- Let them spill out of your pretty centerpiece,
- Hang them on a hook or ladder for some extra detail
- Use them as a garland on your fireplace mantel
- Hang them in your Christmas tree.
Really these wooden bead garlands are a must have for every aspiring decorator. And you can never have enough of them.

I used to have one or two…
And then I made my vision board garland and used most of them in that project.
I made my faux cement beads garland a while back and I have used it so often since. But I was still missing my nice wooden, natural, light colored wood bead garland to decorate with. So I decided to make a DIY wood bead garland with tassels and add a little extra for additional fun and beauty.
This is by far the easiest craft project I have ever done. You only need 5 supplies, making the beaded garland and the tassels takes less than 10 minutes, and adding some skeleton keys is not a hard job either. The entire project can’t have cost me more than $5.00. It doesn’t get any quicker, easier or budget friendly than that!
Let me show you how I made my mine in this tutorial.

Supplies to Make a Wood Bead Garland with Tassels and Skeleton Keys.
- Twine – I used cotton twine for a soft look, but jute, or yarn or butchers twine would work too. Just make sure it doesn’t have a stretch.
- Step 1. Make two tassels.
Really I don’t need to show you how to make a tassel do I? Wrap the twine around your hand or phone about 15 times so you have a circle. Tie some string around your wrapped circle about an inch from the top. Cut the bottom of your circle. Done! Repeat.
Step 2. Make your wooden beaded garland
String your beads onto a length of string. When you have your desired length tie the tassels to the end of the string.
Step 3. Hunt down some orphaned skeleton keys that you no longer have a door for
I inherited a whole tin of very old, mostly rusted, skeleton keys from my father. I have always wanted to craft with them. I picked the ones that were least rusty because I wanted to paint them. You might have some leftover keys in your shed, or you can find them for next to nothing on yard sales or thrift stores.
Step 4. Paint your keys
I used some bits of leftover paint to paint my keys. I first primed them with a spray paint primer. That worked okay but I found it difficult to get good coverage on all sides. I opted for some regular paint and a small brush for the final coats. That was much quicker. I let them dry in between coats by dangling them on a skewer that I balanced on some paint pots.
Step 5. Attach your keys to your tassels and start decorating
I added two keys to one of the tassels with twine. I decided to use the other keys to make skeleton key tassels. I didn’t know that decorating with old keys would be such fun! I love my little recycled key craft project.
No Time to Craft your own Garland. Just Buy Them!
If you’d rather have your garland ready made then here are some uber pretty and fun wood bead garlands you can find online and buy ready made. Just make sure you have a couple of these beaded garlands in your decorating repertoire. Take it from me. You won’t regret it.
If you like this project don’t forget to pin it to your favorite Pinterest board!
Cindy says
I think the Skelton keys are the finishing touch
Cindy
Diane says
Love the extra touch with the keys.