DIY Christmas Candy Garland Cards with Carly Tee

It's time for more sweet holiday inspiration during Beary Sweet Christmas Week! Today, Carly Tee is back with a fun new way to use the candy dies from her Beary Sweet Holiday Collection. She's turning colorful candies into festive garlands for handmade holiday cards!

Garlands are such a fun way to decorate for the holidays, and they aren't limited to greenery and ornaments. With a little creativity, you can make garlands from all kinds of die cut shapes, including products you may already have in your crafty stash. Carly is sharing a video tutorial for her playful candy garland card, plus three additional designs that show just how versatile this idea can be.

Hi Crafty Friends! Carly here! Garland isn't just for your Christmas tree this year. It's fun on holiday cards, too! This is such an easy technique with tons of possibilities for different designs. Grab your favorite candy dies, add a little sparkle, and let's make something sweet!

For this card, we're using the Candy Kebob Christmas Add-On Die Set to create colorful candies that look like they're strung together with little white felt balls. The garland twists and loops across a soft pink background for a playful holiday design.

Watch the video below to see how everything comes together, then follow along with the tips and instructions!

Start by die cutting an assortment of candies from the Candy Kebob Christmas Add-On Die Set. Mix and match colors and shapes to create a playful combination. Pink, mint, lavender, and white make a sweet alternative to traditional Christmas colors!

Want to give your candy that sparkly, sugar-coated look? Here's an easy trick using double-sided adhesive and glitter.

1. Remove the thicker liner paper from a sheet of double-sided adhesive and apply the adhesive to your cardstock, leaving the thinner liner in place.

2. Position the cardstock with the adhesive side facing up, against the die, and run it through your die cutting machine.

3. Assemble the candy layers using liquid adhesive.

4. Remove the remaining liner paper to expose the adhesive on the front of the candy.

5. Dip the die cut into clear glitter for a beautiful, sparkly finish!

This technique is especially fun for peppermint candies, gumdrops, and even sugar cookies. The glitter sticks right where you want it, making it easy to add sparkle to even the tiniest pieces.

Next, die cut a bunch of small circles from white cardstock. These will act as little wool felt balls or beads between the candy pieces.

Any small circle die will work, but the Winter Wreath Accessories Die Set is especially handy because it cuts five circles at once! That's a big time-saver when you need lots of little pieces for a garland.

You can also experiment with different colors for the beads or skip them entirely and create a garland using only candy shapes.

Before adhering anything, decide how you want your garland to look.

Try creating a series of swags across the card, a vertical hanging garland, or one big looping strand. For this card, the garland has a fun, tangled look with several overlapping loops.

To help plan the placement, use a round object, such as a roll of tape, to lightly trace curved pencil guidelines onto an A2 card panel.

Don't worry about making the lines perfect! They'll be covered by the candy and circles as you build your garland.

Now for the fun part—putting all those sweet little pieces together!

Begin adhering the white circles directly to the cardstock with liquid glue. Add the candy pieces between the circles using foam adhesive for extra dimension.

Follow your pencil guidelines, alternating candy shapes and circles to create the appearance of a continuous garland. Make sure the pieces cover the pencil marks as you work.

TIP: If your garland has overlapping sections, start adhering the pieces where the strands intersect. Working outward from those points helps prevent awkward gaps or overlapping pieces that don't quite fit together.

Continue building the garland until you're happy with the arrangement. Trim any pieces extending beyond the edges of the card panel with scissors.

Before the card gets too crowded with dimensional candy, stamp your sentiment in an open area.

The sweet message from the A Little Merri-Mint Stamp Set is a perfect match for this design: Wishing you sweetness & all good things this Holiday Season.

Here's a helpful stamping tip! Place a piece of clear acetate over your card panel and stamp your sentiment onto the acetate first. This lets you check the placement and alignment before committing to stamping directly onto your card. Simply wipe the acetate clean when you're ready.

Once the sentiment is stamped, finish adding any remaining candy pieces. For a final touch, use a black pen to add a few small dots around the sentiment and across the background. These create the look of playful paint splatters without any messy supplies!

And if your garland looks like it could use one more piece of candy, go ahead and add it! Sometimes those last-minute additions are just what a card needs.

For a more traditional holiday look with a sweet twist, combine layered greenery from the Winter Wreath Accessories Die Set with colorful candy embellishments. The different shades of green create beautiful texture, while the pink fringe and bright bow add a playful pop of color.

Tuck sparkly gumdrops throughout the greenery for a fun alternative to berries or ornaments. This design is a great reminder that wreath and foliage dies can be used for much more than wreaths!

For a cleaner, more structured design, arrange your candy pieces in three straight rows across the card. Alternate peppermint candies, glittery cookies, gummy bears, and bows with small white circles to create colorful strands.

The Candy Kebob Christmas Add-On Die Set provides plenty of shapes to mix and match, and the bows make the garlands look extra festive. Finish with a sentiment from the Candy Wrappers Stamp Set for a card that's simple, sweet, and easy to customize.

Who says garlands have to be made from tiny embellishments? For this playful design, three gingerbread men from the Bear Hugs Holiday Accessories Die Set are connected with vibrant pink bows to create an adorable holiday garland.

Add little white frosting details, rosy cheeks, and buttons to bring the gingerbread characters to life. A few peppermint candies tucked into the corners add another sweet touch without distracting from the main design.

This is such a fun example of looking at your dies in a completely different way. Larger shapes can become the garland itself, creating a bold focal point with very little else needed!

Garlands are a fun and festive way to decorate holiday cards, and the possibilities go far beyond traditional greenery. Try stringing together tiny stamped images, flowers, stars, ornaments, or other favorite shapes from your stash. You might be surprised how many products can take on a whole new look when arranged as a garland!

We hope Carly's sweet Christmas card designs have inspired you to give this technique a try. A big thank you to Carly for sharing another wonderful video and so many creative ideas during Beary Sweet Christmas Week!

Be sure to explore the rest of our Beary Sweet Christmas Week inspiration for even more handmade holiday cards, clever techniques, and creative ways to use the Beary Sweet Holiday Collection.