DIY Projects For Semi-Crafty, Non-Perfectionists
Glitter Holiday Banner
It’s been awhile since I put up a DIY post so I thought I’d feature a super inexpensive and easy one today. I kept seeing these really pretty, glittery banners for sale on etsy for $25 bucks plus shipping and thinking, “I can so make that for way less money.”
I always wonder if my DIY’s are so completely obvious that they don’t warrant a post, but I figured I did learn a few tips and tricks with this project that were worthy of sharing. This banner cost me $12 to make and $8 of that was for an alphabet stencil kit that I will use on a dozen other projects in the future. Time wise, it took me about 30 minutes to make two banners.
What you will need:
- Glitter or design covered cardstock. You could always go the route of buying regular cardstock and then covering it in glue and glitter but I found these 12x12 sheets at Michael’s for $0.99 a sheet and that is FAR easier and less messy. This would also be perfect for a birthday or shower banner if you chose cardstock in pretty prints to match your occasion.
- Scissors. I used big clunky kitchen shears. That was a mistake. Get yourself a pair of little nimble, pointed scissors. You can do it with regular scissors but you have to go slow to make it precise (something non perfectionists like myself have a hard time doing).
- Ribbon - I chose a shimmery gold ribbon to compliment the silver letters
- A glue gun & glue stick
- A pen
Once you decide what you want the banner to say, flip the cardstock over and line up your first letter. The trick here is making sure that the letter is traced backward so that when it is flipped over, the letters read appropriately. I was able to squeeze all but two of my letters for Merry and Bright onto one piece of cardstock.
The stencil I used had separations between letters as it was intended for painting. I just use my pen to draw in the connection lines before I started to cut.
The not so fun part - cut out all of the letters. Ouch! It made my hand hurt a little with those big bulky scissors.
Then line up your letters on the ribbon and eyeball it to make sure you like the spacing. I found it helpful to put a little slack in the ribbon before you line up the letters so that it mimics how it might hang once it is in place on a wall or fireplace.
Using a glue gun, put a few dots of glue at the top of each letter and attach to the ribbon. I suppose you could use craft glue too, but I’m too impatient to wait for it to dry.
Ta dah! Here is your finished product:
I added some garland and hung ours in the overpass between the living room and dining room.
I also made a smaller NOEL banner that I initially put on the wreath over our fireplace
But I decided that it was too much going on with the archway banner, so I pulled it down and ended up attaching it to a wreath on our front door instead:
This is a really easy craft and one I plan to replicate many times in the future to make banners for other holidays and birthdays. It would also look great if you cut the letters out of felt or attached each letter to a colorful square or triangle to make it a pennant instead of a banner.
And as I always like to do with posts in this series, it’s time to recommend a little beverage to keep you company while you cut out all of those dang letters. Get your non perfectionist craft on while sipping a Naughty Onyx. This drink is perfect to serve at your holiday gathering while people oooh and aaah over the unbelievable skill and craftsmanship of your glitter banner.
What you’ll need:
-
Orange rind strip
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Whole cranberry sauce
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Superfine sugar
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Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
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