Step 1: Go to Hobby Lobby and buy a plain pre-made banner. Yes, this may seem like a cop-out, but buying one of these babies for $4 is so worth saving yourself the headache that it is to actually assemble a banner from scratch. They carry them in white, black, brown and burlap. I wish they would have carried these in store two years ago when I had to construct a burlap banner from scratch for an engagement party. Trust me, the less cutting of burlap you have to do on a project, the better. This pre-made banner is a nice sturdy foundation for you to decorate on.
Step 2: Choose a scrapbook paper to use as the background of your banner pendants. Flip the paper over so that it is back (white) side up and trace an outline of the banner pendant so that it will be the perfect size. Cut those out. I decided that I also wanted my letters to be matted on two different colors. I determined how much of the background I wanted covered by the lettering and cut out matting squares (using a paper cutter) from (red) cardstock. For my second, inner layer of matting I also cut squares of the exact same size from (navy) cardstock. Then, I used fancy scissors to trim the edges of these navy squares to make them a little smaller than the red squares and give them a decorative finish.
Step 3: I designed the lettering that I wanted to use on my computer and printed out the letters using (white) cardstock. I purposely put each letter inside of a circle shape on the computer so that it was easy for me to cut the letters out the way I wanted them. There's no way I could cut out a perfect circle without a line to guide me. The banner I was making had 12 pendants and my wording only had 8 letters so I also printed out some nautical clip art for the extra pendants.
Step 4: When beginning to assemble all the pieces, first, assemble the lettering using the cut out letters from step 3 and the matting squares from step 2. I hate using glue of any sort, so I always use double sided tape. It sticks well, it's not messy and it leaves a flat, smooth finish. Next, attach the lettering to the background papers from step 2 also using double sided tape.
Step 5: Next, attach the assembled pieces onto the plain pendants using double sided tape. Make sure you line them up perfectly so that they completely cover the plain pendants. The plain pendants make for a good clean, thick backing for your banner so that you can hang your banner where ever you want (even with the back exposed) and it will look nice.
Step 6: Finally, attach a decorative ribbon to the banner by hot gluing on top of the already provided ribbon attached to the top of each pendant. This will give the banner a nice finished look.
Voila! All finished! Now, you can hang and enjoy your banner. Obviously, my banner was created for a baby shower, but you can basically follow these simple steps to create a banner for any theme or occasion. Happy Crafting!
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