Thankful Banner

I went to Hobby Lobby this morning armed with ideas and a supply list for several last minute Thanksgiving crafts (and a cranky 4 year old in tow-I don’t recommend that).  Let’s face it, two days before Thanksgiving…most crafters have moved on to Christmas.  But I couldn’t let Thanksgiving pass by without completing at least one craft!

Behold, my Thankful Banner!

Completed during nap time this afternoon.  And I am so thankful that today was a nap day.  Naps are mostly a thing of the past here, but it was a good day indeed.

This was a super easy, super satisfying project.

Here are the supplies I used:

• 4″ chipboard/cardboard letters-I haven’t jumped on the Cricut/Silhouette bandwagon yet, and this was so much easier than stenciling them all by hand!
• Acrylic paint for painting the chipboard letters- I used Americana Brand in Burnt Orange
• Burlap- I wound up using about 1/2 a yard.  As I mentioned on Facebook, burlap was in short supply today at Hobby Lobby.  I wound up with the last yard of Oyster burlap (an offwhite color) instead of the natural color I intended, but I think I love my banner even more with the Oyster burlap!
• 3 yards of 1 1/2 inch brown wired ribbon
• 2 packages of orange flower embellishments-I found these beauties by the scrapbook/card supplies, but you could easily make your own out of fabric or felt.  If you know how to do that sort of thing.  Which I don’t….yet.
• Hot glue gun-no sewing involved here!!

How I made the banner:

1. First I painted the chipboard letters with my burnt orange paint.

2.  I created a template out of cardstock for the triangle size I wanted for the banner.  Note: be sure to use your widest letter for this (mine was “k”) so you have enough room!

3.  Trace your template on the burlap (I used a fine tip sharpie) and cut out the triangle.  Repeat 8 times.  Cutting burlap is messy business, by the way.  I’m still covered in it.

4.  Once your chipboard letters are dry (and mine were dry by the time I finished cutting the burlap), hot glue the letters to the triangles.  I used an index card (so precise, I know!) to make sure all my letters were the same distance from the bottom point of the triangles.

5.  Then I glued the ribbon across the top.  (I laid it all out first to make sure I had enough ribbon on both ends).

6.  Last of all, I glued on the orange flower embellishments.  I may add some additional embellishments next year, but for this year, I’m happy with the beautiful simplicity of my banner!

One teensy problem.  I had envisioned this banner being hung across my mantle, but it is a bit too long for that.  So I’m still playing around with where I want to display it…

The stairs?

The dining room with the red walls?

The kitchen cabinets?

I love my Thankful banner no matter where I decide to place it!  (And you’ll note that I’m no banner-hanging-expert…I used Scotch tape for these pics until I can get my handy husband to hang it up properly)

Hoping I have time to squeeze in one more kiddie Thanksgiving craft tomorrow….