How-To: Make a Valentine's Day Banner!

I'm making a new banner for my Valentine's Day show in February (come to it!), and I thought I'd share the easy technique I use so you can try it out at home!  It costs pretty much nothing, as long as you have an old book, some string, a glue stick, scissors, a hole puncher, a pen, and scrap paper (this could be decorative paper, doilies, wallpaper, or even paint swatches).

  

Start by choosing your text and cutting the appropriate amount of triangular-shaped flags that you will use to create every letter.  I needed 12 to spell 'A Quartzy Life,' so I stacked and folded 6 book pages and cut them together to get the same sizes.

  

After they're all cut, separate them and write letters onto each.  Use a font that's bold and simple, not scrolled or cursive. For this banner, I sort of just made a serif variation of block letters.  Coloring them in makes the type more readable when the banner is hanging.  Once you've done your letters, cover the backs in glue and glue them smoothly to your backing paper. 

 

I used wallpaper scraps for my backing paper.  Wallpaper is great because it cuts easily but is vibrant and durable.  Wrapping paper and decorative paper also work well and are inexpensive.  Once they're all glued, cut the backing paper around the edge of the paper pendants, leaving about a half inch visible. 

Next, using a hole puncher (a slightly smaller-than-normal one, if you have it), punch two holes as equidistant as possible from each of the top angles of each pendant.

If your hole puncher is regularly sized, consider using a thicker string like yarn, or two or three strands of bracelet string, so the pendants won't slide around once the banner is finished.  To decide how much string you need, lay all your pendants about two inches apart from each other and run the string along the top of them.  Leave about a foot on each end, just to be safe.

If you have a wide-eyed needle, use it to put the string through each hole you've punched.

I worked from right to left, starting with the 'e' in 'life.'  Put the needle under the right hole, pull the thread through, and then put it down through the left hole.  Pull the thread all the way through until only about a foot is left at the end of the letter you started with.

Once you've threaded all your letters, you can slide them along the string and space them out them how ever you like.

I leave the ends of my banners un-tied and then just use a loop knot to secure them where ever I need.  You can also easily secure this banner using two pieces of tape on each end.  Since the one I just made is for my next show, I used the leftover paper scraps to make more paper decorations in the Valentine's Day vein and taped them in accompanying areas around my setup.

And there you go!  It takes less than 45 minutes to complete this project from start to finish, and you have a free, handmade creation to hang in any space for any occasion.

xoxo