DIY Word Banners

I made a bunting for my sisters bridal shower back in June that said "From Miss to Mrs" that we hung over the food table.

I did it using scrapbook paper, I measured and cut all of the flags by hand, and it ended up getting all crumpled and wrinkled afterwards so I cant reuse it for any of my other friends' showers coming up.

I saw this cute idea for a gift table on pinterest and decided that, when we got closer to our wedding (I didn't want this one to get crumpled because it was sitting around for a year) I would painstakingly make another banner.

Then I (surprise!) went to Hobby Lobby and found these awesome premade chipboard pennants for 50% off (aka $2 for a pack of 7) and I couldn't resist.Well... I probably could've resisted but why bother? My wallet was stuffed with Hobby Lobby gift cards (thank you Santa!).

Here are some directions on how to EASILY make your very own lettered bunting.

Things you will need:
-Premade pennants (There were burlap,cloth, and chipboard options at HL)
-Paint (both the color of the flag and the color of the lettering you want
-Paint brushes
-Wax Paper
-Computer
-Printer
-String or ribbon to hang the finished flags on

Step 1: Paint  your flags the desired color. My wedding colors will be a deep yellow, light gray, and white, so I painted my flags white. After you paint one side I suggest that you lay them on Wax paper to let them dry. That way if something dripped to the other side it won't pull up newsprint when you pick it up.

Step 2: After one side is dry repeat with the other side.

Step 3: While you're waiting on the paint to dry make the letters for your flags. I went into publisher and made a triangle template that was the exact dimensions of my flags (the dimensions were on the packaging). Then I inserted wordart in the font that I wanted so I could stretch it to be the side I needed.

Then all you need to do is copy and paste the number of letters you will need and change the letter to make the words you want. I also did the same with a piece of heart clipart for the spaces. The font I used is called KG Only*Hope if you're interested in using that one. Its fun because all of the letters are different in both lowercase and capital.

Step 4: Print out the letters and cut them out. Leave a bit of space on all sides to give you room to hold the paper down when you are tracing.

Step 5: Trace the letters onto the board using pen. If you are using a cloth or burlap pennant you will need to chalk the back and follow steps 2, 3, and 4 seen here.

Step 6: Using the paint that you want, fill in the outlines you just traced.I blew up this picture so you can see the slight indentation marks that you should have after you trace the lines out.

Step 7: After all of the letters have dried you're ready to string them up! This next part can be done lots of different ways with lots of different materials. You decide what's best for you.

If you use a thick ribbon the pennants probably won't slide around so you wont need to tie knots. I used Jute to get a rustic look so I wanted to tie knots to make sure the flags stayed spaced evenly.

I threaded mine over/under so that the knots went in the front and the jute went in the back. If you have a pretty ribbon that you want to show off you can thread it under/over and the ribbon would show in the front.

Step 8: Trim the ends and stand back and admire your work. Or in my case call for your fiance and demand that HE admire your work :)

You can do this with pretty much anything. You could even use scrapbook paper of different patterns and glue it to the front for a cute mis-matchy pattern background....  That would take longer but I think it would be really cool looking.

I made a really awesome string art project over New Years Day that I'll post about next. I didn't have enough string to finish it, but once its done I'll share!

Happy Crafting!