#CRAFTS : Paper Banner Tutorial

I saw a banner an old friend made for her boyfriend on her blog a few years ago and thought how cute! I set out and made one, then another, and about 100 more. Here's a quick and easy tutorial to show how easy it is to bust out a 15-minute banner. Oh and my workstation today was a nightstand that we found in our complex dumpster which has become my downstairs craft storage (aka when I've been crafting downstairs and then realize people are coming over I just quick throw everything into the nightstand). 

You will need scissors, paper, string, and a hole puncher. Alternative tools: scissors & x-acto knife, hole puncher & x-acto knife, string can be thread or twine or yarn or floss or shoelaces or whatever.

For paper, I love these paper packs that have a theme with patterns and colors that already go well together. I picked this one up at Marshall's for $2.99. Lately I've been striking paper-pack gold at Tuesday Morning! Tons of different themes from holidays to rustic to baby shower. Tuesday Morning has had a great selection of the paper packs at $2.99 for 36 6x6 squares.

1. Decide how long your banner needs to be and cut your string. You want to have at least 6 inches left over on each end to tie the ends to a nail or tack in the wall where it will be hung.

You can be really precise and measure, or you can be like me and just guess.

2. Select your paper

If you have paper packs, it's super easy. If you are going through your own paper supply and digging through scraps, it's a little harder.

 3. Cut your paper into the shape you want

Triangles are pretty difficult to screw up. Circles can be a good option, but if you use circles it's best to use paper that has color/pattern on both sides. The paper I'm using has pattern on one side and white on the other. I've found that when I cut circles they flip and twist and then the non-patterned side will show up and it's not so cute.

 4. Now punch 2 holes in each piece of paper

I like the Fiskars puncher that punches these rectangular holes better than regular circular hole punchers. If the hole is too big, the paper can slide around (depending on the string type) and I like to space out the shapes equidistant and have them stay the way I put them. FYI the Hobby Lobby version of the rectangular punch is AWFUL!!! Jams and gives ya blisters. Spend the extra dollar or two and get Fiskars!

 5. Arrange your paper pieces

When I arranged these pieces, I just wanted to make sure that the mostly black pieces were not next to each other and that the orange pieces weren't next to each other. I thought the colorful ones popped more when they had black pieces on either side.

 6. Tape the end of your string

Using twine, sometimes it is difficult to get the string through the little hole because the twine starts to separate. I put a little piece of tape over the end and it acts kind of like a needle, makes it easier to weave in and out of the paper,

 7. Start stringing the pieces

You can choose to start stringing with the string in FRONT of the shape or BEHIND the shape. It just depends what you think looks best. Today I opted to start stringing behind the shape.

 8. Space out the pieces

Depending on the look you're going for, space the pieces out as you wish. I kept mine pretty close on this one.

 9. Add some embellishment, if ya want

I bought a pack of 20 ribbon/bakers twine spools at Tuesday Morning for like $9 a long time ago. I used some polka dotted ribbon and tied little bows in between the pieces. This is also a time when Washi Tape can come in handy. That stuff rocks.

THAT'S IT!

You can hang up your banner by tying it onto a nail or tack or using (strong) tape to hold it up. Word of advice, do not hang your banner near candles or near a stove. I just lit this candle so it would look cute in the picture. Blew that sucka right out afterwards. #FireSafety

Shoutout to RG for giving me the creative license to hang up all the banners I could ever possibly want to hang up in our living room. We're only at 6 or 7 right now, but there's always room for more...

HAPPY CRAFTING!