Valentine's Day Banner

I can't believe it has been an entire year since my last post.  I guess Facebook has gotten the best of me with my McVay's Nest page.  I just can't seem to find the time to blog.  That being said, I wanted to share with you a Valentine Banner that I made using supplies I had at home.  I know some of you might not have certain things you need at home.
 If you don't, the items I used in this project are very inexpensive.
Let's get started shall we?

Supplies you will need are:

Wide burlap ribbon
acrylic paint
ribbon or bias tape or twine
sewing machine or hot glue gun
freezer paper (grocery stores or Wal-Mart carry this by the plastic bag section)
iron
paint brush
scissors

 I started out with a very wide burlap ribbon that came in a roll from Hobby Lobby and I cut 7 square approximately 7 inches long.
I folded them in half and cut at an angle to form a dovetail point as you see on the right.  I wouldn't do all of the cutting at once, I would stack 2 at a time so your cut stays crisp.

I wanted my to read BE MINE, you can have your banner say whatever you choose.

I took my ribbon and left a good 6-8 inches of tail so I would have something to hang it from.  I then took my ribbon which was an 1 1/2 inches wide and pressed it in half so I would have something to sandwich my banner section in.
 I spaced the sections at 1 1/2 inches apart on the inside of the ribbon and pinned.  If you don't want to sew or you don't have a sewing machine, that's totally fine.  Just take twine or a ribbon and fold 1/2 inch of fabric down on your banner section over the twine or ribbon and hot glue them in between the fold.

I sandwiched mine in between the ribbon and used my sewing machine to tack them down with a straight stitch the length of the ribbon. I then cut the ribbon tails on dovetail points like I did with my banner sections by folding the ribbon in half and cutting at an angle.

I printed out BE MINE on my computer and traced the letters onto freezer paper using a basic font to mimic what a conversation heart font looks like.

I free handed my heart to space in between the two words BE MINE, but you can print a heart one if you choose to trace one out.

 I could have made the letters a bit bigger, but no big deal :)

I took my scissors and cut out the inside of the letters to form a stencil, you could use and exacto knife also if you have one.

The letter B will have two segments you will have to keep track of before you iron them to the banner section to for the bumps in the B

 Iron each freezer paper letter onto the banner section one letter at a time, making sure they are roughly the same space on each section.  I didn't measure or anything, just eyeball it!

The letters are all ironed on and the next step is to take your paint and go over your make shift stencils you've just created.  

I need to get a Silhouette Portrait that's for sure! It would make my life a little easier but I honestly enjoy the stress relief that crafting provides me.  It's free therapy!

Make sure you are being careful not to go off of your freezer paper with the paint.

 I peel the freezer paper away immediately to avoid any bleed through. The beauty of the freezer paper is it bonds without leaving any residue behind and sticks to a lot of different items when ironed on.

I had to grab this wooden block at a local department store.  The song is so beautiful and the hubby and I love it!

Here is my finished banner all hung up on the mantle.

  I used gold metallic paint for the heart and love how it turned out.  

I hope you give this a try! Maybe just hearts all the way across would be adorable too, and less cutting.

It is something you can use for years to come.

Happy Valentine's Day,

Kadi 

McVay's Nest