Wooden Easter Garland Tutorial

Recycled Bunting

Our local supermarket was selling off their 'Mothering Sunday' items at a 70% discount.  I bought some wooden (actually it was MDF, despite what the label said!) bunting which I repainted and covered so now we have a new "Easter Blessings" garland;

At the moment it is hung over the piano, but will have to be moved later as I have another project in mind for this space!  

As usual it was a simple project and if you don't have any suitable MDF then thick cardboard (chipboard) would make an excellent substitute.  Before I started I simply painted over the existing 'flags' as they were three different colours.  I could probably have left them as they were because they were going to be covered in paper, but I wanted the edges to all be the same.

Gather your supplies;

I used my painted flags, Sizzix Machine, alphabet dies, papers, glue, chalks, ribbon, sandpaper and a drill.

The first step is to draw around the flags onto the reverse of your paper. I chose a vintage style paisley pattern as I wanted it to look 'shabby chic'.  Place your flags alternate ways so that you don't waste paper.  You can see what I mean in this picture;

You then need to stick your cut out triangles onto your flags.  A little tip, to give your work a professional finish, is to sand the edges of your flags once the glue has dried.  This makes it look as though the papers have always been covering the triangles and have not just been stuck on!  I also chose to ink the edges of my triangles after sanding to make them look a little more 'aged'.

  

Next I drilled two holes into each triangle so that I could thread the whole banner onto ribbon ready for hanging.  I actually should have done the drilling before I stuck on the paper as this would saved me a lot of time spent tidying up the holes!  I also added a little bit of sparkle with the addition of some Stickles (a brand of glitter glue).

It took a lot of work to get those holes neat!

The final task was to cut out the message 'Easter Blessings' using my little Sizzix Machine and some lovely dark green card stock.  If you don't have a die cutter then just use alphabet stickers or rub-ons.  These can often be picked up at discount book shops or even 'Pound' stores.  

All that was then left to do was just to use a large darning needle and thread ribbon through the drilled holes.  

I'll try to get a 'proper' picture of the whole banner once I get some decent light.  We've been thrust back into winter at present and I didn't fancy going outside in the snow - Apologies!