An early Boo for you -tutorial style-

Edited to add- the giveway is closed and a winner was announced, thanks to all who entered!

I’m in love with burlap banners right now and even though it’s too early to start decorating for Halloween, it’s never to early to make the stuff to decorate with. Like this-

Minus the green star, I had to take the picture of my front door open so the sun wouldn’t shine through the burlap and make it hard to see. Want to make one?

Here’s what you’ll need to get if you don’t have them on hand-

Freezer paper (or letter stencils)*

Burlap*

Black paint

Glitter paint- optional

Hemp cord

You’ll also need a glue gun(or sewing machine/iron on hemming tape), scissors, paint brush, ruler, iron, piece of cardstock or cardboard 8 1/2" x 11", and your computer printer.

*You can find freezer paper in the foil/cling wrap isle at the Super big box stores. It comes in a huge roll for about $5-$6 but one roll will last you a lifetime. Really. It would be a good project to split with a couple of friends. In fact if I know you personally and you want some paper just give me a shout and I'll bring some next time I see you. I have plenty! I also got my burlap from the fabric section in my super store, it was just over $2 a yard, next to the batting by the yard. If you have a JoAnn's or other fabric/decorating store check there too.

1. First lay your burlap out horizontally and measure 11” down the left side of the burlap. Find the strand of burlap that’s at the 11” mark and pull it all the way out .

2. That makes a nice even line so you can cut it straight across without all those annoying fuzzies.

3. Cut through that line.

Now you should have a piece of burlap that is 11” tall by however wide, mine was 36” wide since I bought it by the yard. If you cut 2 pieces of burlap 11”x36” you will get 14 pennants, enough to spell Happy Halloween if you wish.

4.Next you’ll take your cardstock and fold it in half. Place a ruler or other straight edge from the top corners to the bottom middle and mark then cut out your triangle.

5. Lay your triangle on your burlap and line up the top edge of the triangle to the top edge of your burlap strip. Cut your burlap, I found it easier to use my ruler and rotary cutter for this- less mess.

6. Flip your pattern over back and forth cutting as you go (6).

7. Now lay out your burlap pieces and measure a length of cord that’s a little more than twice as long. Just eyeball it, but it’s always better to cut long and trim later. Cut two extra pieces of cord that are about 28” long (sorry, no picture).

8. Lay one burlap triangle down and squirt some hot glue close to the top edge. Lay the middle point of your cording in the middle of the glue and fold the top edge of the burlap over your cording(8a). If you glob on the glue it will come out the front side of the burlap, if this is a problem you can always just zig zag stitch with your sewing machine or you can use the iron on hemming tape (8b). All three ways work just fine- it tried them all.

9. Repeat step 8 with the other two (or more) burlap pieces leaving some space between each piece to hang, until you get to the outside edge. Stop folding about 1” from the outside edge, give it some more glue, and stick the end of one of the 28” cord pieces over the glued cord and burlap. Do this for each end piece. Fold the burlap over both hemp pieces. This gives you an extra bit of cord to hang it with for tying onto things.

10. Now cut your freezer paper stencils. You can follow my instructions for that here if you’ve never done it before using an exacto knife and computer printer. You can also run freezer paper through your cricut/silhouette machine like I did if you have one and skip the printing and cutting it yourself. Print/Cut your letters about 4 1/2” tall. I think my font was set at 350 pt and I used the blue cap with the shiny side down on the mat (silhouette). You can free hand or stencil them however you want if you don’t want to freezer paper it.

11. Iron on your individual letters using the high/cotton setting, using the letter piece you took out for reference on where to iron on the “o” hole and “b” holes- for lack of a better term ;).

12/13. Cut a piece of freezer a bit bigger than your stencil and iron it on the back. This keeps the paint from going through the burlap onto your work surface. Paint. I mixed some glitter paint in with the black and then sponged off some of the paint with a paper towel to give it a more see through look. Let the paint dry, tear off the freezer paper pulling from the top down so you don’t pull out any strings that should stay in the banner, and viola`. You have a new banner!

Don’t be afraid to play with this. If you make one don’t forget to show it to me- I love seeing them!

Oh, I almost forgot- if you made it this far you deserve a treat. A boo banner treat. So leave me a comment and you could get one of your very own without needing to make it! I’ll draw a random winner from the comments on this post in a few days, just make sure to come back and see if you’re the winner- I don’t hunt people down well ;). Good luck!