I loved THIS banner I saw in the Potterybarn catalog, but since it was no longer available when I went to add it to my cart, I decided to make an attempt at crafting one myself. (ooooOOOHHH scary!) The concept seemed fairly simple........but I knew that burlap is a bit transparent, so just using a sharpie wouldn't work, so I'd have to use black paint instead. Painting scares me a little bit. I'm not the painter in the family and even though something as basic as filling in letters sends me into sweats I worry myself to death with fear I'll get black paint all over everything! To make things a bit easier, I decided on "Spooky" instead of "Happy Halloween" like the Potterybarn banner.
After thinking twice looking at my pile of things from Hobby Lobby, I decided I'd give it a whirl:
What I used:
Bought at Hobby Lobby:
Black Acrylic Paint: $4.99 Burlap Table Cloth: $6.99 (50% off with coupon code) $3.49
Pack of 25 Paint Brushes (I had none): $4.99
Hemp Twine: $4.99
Total to construct banner including tax: $19.75
Things I had on hand:
Glue Gun Scissors
Black Sharpie
Printer (to print out letters for a template)
Command Decorating Clips
Instead of having burlap cut in the fabric section, I bought a burlap table cloth from the party section.
Note the hibiscus in the corner, from the luau decor.
I had a coupon code for 50% off a regular priced item, so this ended up being around $3.50.
It was just opaque enough to trace a letter through and was hemmed around the edges,
which I thought might make a better reinforcement for the top of the banner, that would be
held to the twine.
Next, I printed out my letters to trace. Nothing fancy! In MS Word, I
typed in the word "Spooky", highlighted it and tested different fonts until I found one that was
creepy enough to use on a banner and that would be easy to paint.
I settled on "Goudy Stout" and enlarged each letter to about 360 font size and printed them.
I freehanded the spider on the left side and used an extra bat
from my old lamp shade project to trace for the right side.
The letters fit perfectly in the middle a book I had lying around, so I decided to use the
it as a template for sizing the burlap to cut.
It's rectangular in shape, but I knew I'd be overlapping the very top of the burlap over
the twine, so the fact that it was a bit longer worked fine.
The burlap was JUST opaque enough to trace my letters with a Sharpie.
I made sure I left the hemmed edge of the banner pieces at the top so that I could fray
the edges a bit for a distressed and worn look.
Now for the scary part!
Filling in the outlines, I painted each letter and dedicated leftover plastic plates for each letter.
Since the paint would bleed through the fabric a bit, it was best to use plastic plates instead
of paper to ensure they would peel off once they dried.
I let them dry on the back porch overnight.
I could have bought jute twine for a bit cheaper, but I wasn't sure I knew what color I wanted and
this hemp twine looked like it might not shed like jute twine does.
I ended up settling on the black.
I laid out my banner across my countertop and turned each flag over.
Since the twine was relatively thin, I ran it the full length of the banner and left
plenty of room at each end, then doubled it up for extra durability.
Lastly, I added hot glue to the twine and folded over the hemmed edge.
Be very careful when folding the edge over to cover the twine! I used an old spoon
to press the edges down while they dried and were secure.
Moment of truth!
I placed the two command strips at each end of the mantle, tied knots in the ends of the
twine (thank goodness I decided to double it up, that was easier) and cut off the excess.
Ta-da!
Something I actually painted and crafted that I can use again next year.
Have a Spooky Halloween!
XO,
No comments:
Post a Comment