Life | Banner Time

Mmmmm hmmmm,  that is a title related to the legend that is MC Hammer. 

Now we've got over that little interlude..... This post has absolutely nada to do with MC Hammer, Hammer-pants or anything else Rap related from the 90's. No, this is what you do when you search the internet with JP and can't find "engagement party bunting". True story peeps. There's stuff for hen parties and weddings but engagement parties? Nope.

Being the industrious gals that we are we decided to get busy and make our own banner/bunting. After all, how difficult could it be?! Actually, really easy but time-consuming if you're amateurs to the crafting world like JP and I. We cracked on and got 'er done in one evening though, and the reward?Ultimate crafting smugness, and a nice-looking banner for our BFF's engagement-do.

So here's what we did. 

1. Found some "vintagey" (what? It's a word, and if it isn't it should be) font. You can download literally thousands of fonts for free online. JP found Palatino Linotype Bolder and printed off the letters we would need.

2. I hot-footed it to Hobby Craft and picked up supplies. Cream card stock, grey card stock, 4m pink ribbon, a crafting knife and glue.

3. We cut out all of our letters a little wider than the actual font because we wanted them a little chunkier.

4. And then used these cut-outs as a stencil to draw around. Our grey card stock was sort of shimmery on one side so we wanted that to face out. When you're tracing your letters you want them the "wrong" way around, so that when you flip 'em and stick 'em they're the right way around.

5. Once we had cut out all of out letters (we had 12), we then worked out what size we wanted our "flags" to be. 3 trial and error templates later we had the right size. 

6. Cut out all of your flags and stick your letters on.

7. Using a hole punch, make the holes for your ribbon and thread through, leaving enough ribbon at each end for hanging. 

8. Finally, bask in your crafting genius and eat steak (not obligatory but it definitely helps). Big thanks to JP's boyfriend, Rua for putting up with all the girly chat AND making us food!

A couple of side notes:

1. I completely forgot to take a photo of said banner "in-situ" at said party....ooops. There are some mini polaroids with it in the background though so it secured it's place in history.

2. Obviously this means that next time there's a party there will be some kind of custom bunting/banner involved. Why not? You can adapt this method for any occasion.

3. 460 words on bunting....wowzer. Fun times.

Happy Friday everyone!