Give Thanks Banner - A Tutorial & Challenge Submission

Give thanks...although I try to do it everyday, now is the season to deck the halls with it, right!

For this challenge, I was sort of all over the place with what to do. I settled on making a banner, bunting, garland thing (what is the official word?). But, I was again all over the place -- to use all felt, to make triangle shaped flags, to use woven or linen? Then, I found some leftover linen and decided to go for that organic look. It sort of fell into place then.

I found these felt leaves from last Thanksgiving (I bought them for my kids to play with and these were our leftovers - yay!). Also, I recently bought this Martha Stewart paint set on sale at Michael's; it's Pearl and Metallic and I've been dying to try it! Once I had all the "ingredients" in place (sidebar: it's so nice to have finally built up SUCH a craft supply that I practically never need to shop to create; it's all already here!) this came together nicely.

I put together a quick tutorial below with pictoral step by step.

Close up of the letters - these colors are truly amazing! The really are pearly or metallic :)

Tutorial Pictoral Step by Step

Supplies:

• Linen (or canvas, burlap or whatever fabric you so choose)
• Fabric Paint (I used this: Martha Stewart's Pearl and Metallic Paint)
• Sponges for painting
• Freezer Paper & Exacto Knife (unless you have a Silhouette machine!)
• Felt Leaves (you can buy them or make your own)
• Twine or other string to hang
• Sewing Machine, pins, etc.

Directions:

This was my testing of colors to narrow it down to four.

Pining leaves into place .... two "flags" have just leaves on them and no letters.

The four selected colors.

Stack of 12 "flags"

Cut linen into twelve 4.5" x 7" rectangles. I used a pinking blade to make these a little more decorative.

Stack 6 up and cut to make "fish tails" on one end. Repeat with other six. I am calling these "FLAGS."

Freezer paper stencils pressed into place ... flags are ready to be painted!

Make your stencil for "give thanks." I really do need to break down and get a Silhouette machine. I make all my stencils in Microsoft Word. Under "format," I choose "stencil" to make the letters an outline. These letters are in the Georgia font, size 250. Print on freezer paper.

Cut all the letters out; save any "holes" from letters like "a" that have a center!

Press freezer paper onto linen.

Lovely paint colors!

Paint away! I find it works best to dab the paint onto my stencil as it prevents bleeding.

If you wish, add a couple of small circles or "dots" onto your linen flags like I did.

Everything's painted .... just waiting for it to dry.

Let paint dry for a couple of hours.

Peel off stencils ...

Sooo pretty! Pinning a couple extra leaves into place

• Arrange leftover felt leaves onto flags; pin in place; sew to secure.
• Press the top of each flag over 1/2 inch; pin to secure. This will make a casing for the twine to go through.

Fold the top of each flag over 1/2" inch to create a casing for the twine.

Arrange flags (give thanks) in order leaving approximately 1/2" inch between letters / flags.

Take the twine and tuck it under the folded over edge of each flag; pin in place.

Go to sewing machine and starting at the beginning ... sew the folded over top flap (the 1/2" you pressed) into place as this will secure the twine. When you get to a space between flags, just sew right over the twine. I found that using a longer stitch length made this easier and faster! 

Sew to end and you're done! 

Grab your twine and string away!

Hang on the wall, smile and give thanks! 

As I was taking pictures of the banner, my first little miracle popped up and wanted to be in the picture. Yes, I give thanks for her daily :)

If you have any questions about anything, just leave a comment and we'll get back to you! :) Happy Thanksgiving a little early....oh and don't forget to vote!