Fall is by far my favorite Month. October and November are full of colors, textures, smells, gathering together, being thankful: it’s absolute perfection in my book. When it comes to decorating for fall however, I’ve never done a whole lot. I’ve place pumpkins around the house or dressed my dining room table with a fall table cloth but not much else.
This year I really wanted to step things up. So much has been going on in my personal life and in the shop that I really wanted to decorate our home so B and I would have a beautiful and relaxing place to unwind. It’s also given me the needed creative outlet since we don’t have any major projects going on right now in the house.
Last month I shared my DIY pumpkin project that I’ve been loving and I was inspired to carry that color palette through to some other projects to tie everything together. The project is so easy and even if you don’t have the supplies lying around like I did, it’s an inexpensive project too!
What you will need:
- burlap or other fabric (I used ivory burlap from Amazon)
- twine or other string (Similar here)
- Scissors
- Hot Glue gun and glue sticks (mine is here)
- craft paint
- paint brush
- computer, paper and printer
- Ruler
- Marker or pen
Make your Banner:
Cut Your Burlap
Start by deciding what size banner you want to make. Most of the banners I make, I either go with 4″ x 6″ or “5 x 7”. In this case, I went with a 5 x 7. I used a piece of scrap paper and cut it to the size I wanted then I used it as a template to mark my burlap. I didn’t trace the entire shape, I just used a sharpie to make tick marks enough to know where to cut. Burlap is very forgiving so don’t worry about being absolutely perfect. Tip: Don’t be afraid to cut a couple extra out just in case of a mistake in one of the later steps.
Cut any special Shapes
By this I mean if you are doing triangles, cut them out. If you are doing the inverted “V” like I did, go ahead and cut those out. I just eyeballed these but you could also find the center of the bottom edge, measure up 1″ and then cut to that point from both bottom corners. If you are doing triangles, it may be easier to make your template the shape you want to use instead of adding this extra step. It also would save some cutting.
Make your Letter Templates
You could draw by hand if you are able but I used Photoshop to make my letters. You could also use a Word document. Just be sure to keep your letters at least 1″ shorter than your banner pieces. I used a font similar to Arial but you can use any font you want just remember you need to cut them out. If you have a cutting tool like a Cricket or Silhouette you don’t need to worry but if you are cutting my hand, it’s best to keep it simple. Tip: Be sure your letters aren’t wider than your banner pieces. Not all letters are the same overall dimension.
Print Your Letters and Cut them Out
I used an Exacto knife but you can also use scissors just be sure to use tape to close the template back up so you don’t paint outside the shape. Again, simple fonts are easier to cut out!
Paint Your Letters
Hold your template on our burlap pieces and dab your paint on filling in the entire area. Be careful not to move your template while painting and be sure to dab your paintbrush to free it of any excess paint before painting. You don’t want an overly wet brush for this. [I used two different colors of paint that are just slightly different from each other. You can do different colors or the same colors, it is up to you.]
Assemble Your Banner
Once your banner pieces are painted, allow them to fully dry. After they are dry, put them in order and place them upside down. [make sure they are in the correct order so they read correctly] Then run a small line of got glue along the top of each banner piece, one at a time, and apply the twine into the glue. I like to leave 18″ – 24″ of excess twine on each end of the banner so that I have plenty to hang my banner. I also like to leave about an inch between each piece but you can space however you like.
Hang and Enjoy!
Leave a Reply