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Hey, y'all! For me, the summer is officially over. (Insert sad face) In my school district, teachers went back to work Tuesday, so I'm busy prepping for the brand new school year. I met some of my students at open house, and they seemed like a great bunch of tenth graders, so I hope that we're going to have a great, productive year of learning together. One thing I always like to do at the beginning of the new school year is make some new decorations for my classroom, so last week I whipped up an easy-to-make banner. Today I'm sharing the tutorial with you in case you'd like to make one yourself.
I wanted my banner to be a reminder to my students to always be kind to one another because, y'all, sometimes tenth graders can be MEAN. But with that being said, the really fun thing about the banner is that you can put any phrase on it you want and embellish it anyway you want to have a piece of decor that is uniquely you.
To get started making your own banner, you'll need a few supplies:
To begin making your banner, cut a piece of drop cloth big enough to fit over the Bigz L Banner Die. (You can find drop cloth at Lowe's or other hardware stores, and when you buy a drop cloth, you can get A LOT of fabric for a little bit of money!) Lay the drop cloth over the die, sandwich that between two cutting pads, and roll through your Big Shot Plus. Repeat the process so that you'll have two drop cloth banners.
Pin the two drop cloth banners together and top stitch around the edges. I went for a bit of a messy look to disguise the fact that I can't sew a straight line to save my life, but if you're a more skilled seamstress, you can go for straight lines.
Once your banner is stitched, it's time to add your sentiment to it. I used StazOn black ink, an acrylic block, and an acrylic alphabet stamp set to add my sentiment. I didn't think the stamped image was dark enough when I finished, so I went over it with a Sharpie to darken it.
Once my sentiment was stamped, I used Puffy Paint to add a flourish below the sentiment. I used my Crop-a-Dile tool to add eyelets to the top corners of the banner so that I could thread ribbon through the holes to hang the banner. To finish the banner, I used hot glue to attach fabric flowers, pom pom trim, lace, and rhinestones to the top right.
I can't wait to add this pretty banner to my classroom!
Since my classroom is nowhere near as pretty as my craft room, I snapped a few pictures of the banner hanging on the gallery wall--my favorite wall--in my craft room. (You can see more of my craft room HERE.) Isn't it sooo cute?!
I hope that this pretty little banner makes my students think twice before they say an unkind word to someone, and I hope that it makes my classroom feel a little more homey since I spend so much time in there.
Happy back-to-school season!
As a member of the 2016 Sizzix Design Team, I receive certain products free of charge in exchange for sharing project tutorials and inspiration with my readers. As always, all opinions are 100% mine.
I adore your wall gallery. It's so bright and cheerful. It's always fun stopping by and seeing what you are up too. Praying you have a great school year.
I adore your wall gallery. It's so bright and cheerful. It's always fun stopping by and seeing what you are up too. Praying you have a great school year.
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