Some of my all-time favorite bloggers (
Sherry and
Katie are the authors of the first blogs I ever read and
Cassie and
Erin), are hosting a little challenge.
They've done this a couple times over the past year, and are at it again...challenging us to actually
create something based on a pin from
Pinterest. You know how it is...we pin pin pin, but rarely take the next step and incorporate the ideas. My most favorite recent pin is this beauty:
As much as I'm itching to replicate this moveable growth chart, I had more pressing projects to do this weekend.
So, today I'll share a project I just finished up. A few weeks ago I searched for some inspiration for EB's upcoming birthday (the big 0-1). We're keeping it small with a just a few family members, but I still wanted to make a bit of an effort for the occasion. Her birthday is March 17th, so of course we're going with a smidge of a St. Patty's theme. I stumbled across this fun banner (original source
here).
After a little bit of work, I came up with my own take on it. I'll give you a look at the final product first, then I'll share a detailed tutorial on how you can create one yourself. We'll be displaying it this weekend for the big day, but I temporarily hung it in
her room for these photos:
Wanna make one? Tools you'll need: word processing software (like Microsoft Word), printer and paper, scissors, card stock, patterned or colored paper to back each letter, pencil, glue stick, hole punch, ribbon or twine
I
started by creating the text on my computer. used Microsoft Word,
which is a little different on my Mac than it is on a PC, but the steps
should be similar enough for you to follow them either way.
I found a free font on
dafont.com called Sherwood. It has an Irish Celtic feel, and was perfect for this! It was super easy to install on my computer, following their instructions. To be clear, I'm not paid or perked by dafont (or anyone, for that matter) in any way.
Here's a series of seven steps to create and print the letters:
Now that you have your letters printed, you'll want to create a stencil in the shape you want the final cut-out to be. I wanted a shield-ish shape. (Other ideas: circles, triangles, ovals, rectangles...the possibilities are endless!) I decided to cut the lower case letters smaller than the upper case, so I needed two different stencils. For each of the sizes, I folded the piece of paper in half, along the center of the letter. Then I free-handed half of the shape around it (so it would be symmetrical), and cut it out:
I then traced those two shapes on a piece of card stock (an old cereal box) and cut them out. Next, I cut a hole in the center of each one and marked the center with two pencil lines (as you can see on the right in the photo below). This allowed me eye-ball the center easily when I placed it over the letters.
I was able to see the letters from the back side of the paper, so to avoid having pencil marks on the front, I worked from the back.
I centered the shape over the letter, and traced around the outside.
Next, I simply cut the letters out. For the contrast backing, I had several sheets of the scrapbook paper leftover from a different project. You could use construction paper or wrapping paper or old maps, or anything, really. I created two more stencils, slightly larger than the two sizes of letters I had, and cut them all out.
Then I simply glued the letters onto the scrapbook paper, and punched holes in the corners. I picked up some cute ribbon to use for stringing the letters together. This 1/4" ribbon was perfect, as it's just wider than the holes, which causes the letters to stay put and not slide around, as they would with a skinnier string or twine.
You can string your letters in one of two ways:
 |
| with the ribbon exposed in the middle of the front |
 |
| or with the ribbon exposed on the edges |
I liked the look of the ribbon on the edges, so I laid out my letters and started stringing.
Taping off the end of the ribbon made the stringing really easy.
Then I hung it up! These little suction cup hooks are great for temporarily hanging lightweight things on glass.
I can easily remove the "1st" for future birthdays, or could even use the "happy birthday" for other's birthdays. That's the beauty of this kind of banner!
I have one more party craft I'll share with you guys next week. I'll show you how I turned these felt circles into an adorable 30-foot garland in less than 30 minutes. Come back to check it out!
Oh, and did you notice the "new" lamps in the nursery? They're all done, and I'm working on a tutorial (for the "gold leaf" lining - for just a couple of bucks). Here's a peek:
And, before I go, I have to show you EB's latest party trick. Literally. She's practicing for her "party" on Saturday. How old is Elsie? you might ask...
That's right. Proud Mama right here!
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