Easy Paper Pennant Banner Tutorial

We recently celebrated my daughter's First Holy Communion and I wanted a simple "Congratulations" banner to hang for the occasion. I made this banner out of scrapbook paper and grosgrain ribbon in an afternoon. I opted to make a very simple banner, but it could be embellished to be as fancy as you would like it to be.

Supplies:

• scrapbook paper
  
• ribbon, twine or yarn
• adhesive
• hole punch

Step One:
Cut out your triangles--however many you need for your banner. I needed fifteen to spell out my word.

Step Two:
Cut out your letters. I used my Cricut to cut mine out, but you could use any sort of craft cutter or even use letter stickers (from the scrapbook section of the craft store), a stencil, or just use a marker.

Step Three:
Adhere your letters to the pennants. I used scrapbooking adhesive (a tape runner) for this step, but you could use a glue stick or whatever you have handy.

Step Four:
This step is skippable, but I'm addicted to my corner rounding punch, so I used that on the corners of each pennant. Here you can see that I used it on the "C" but hadn't yet used it on the "O". I think it just gives my simple banner a nice finishing touch. Very skippable though if you don't have this punch.

Step Five:
Punch two holes in the top of each of your triangles and thread your banner! Use ribbon, twine, yarn--whatever looks best!

Step Six:
Hang your banner and admire your creation!

Tap Dance Headpieces

Why is it that all projects in my life seem to happen at the same time? Springtime is SO busy around here! I recently finished up thirteen headpieces for one of my daughter's dance classes.

This year her studio's spring performance is Peter Pan and it is fantastic! Seriously--laugh-out-loud funny in parts. Captain Hook sings (really sings) about being "bad" while channeling Michael Jackson. Hilarious stuff. They intersperse the "real" dancers and singers who have been studying for 10-15 years with the little ones who are just beginning and it becomes a great show to watch rather than an agonizing thing to suffer through.
Her tap class is dancing as clocks (to torment Captain Hook...their feet will make the tick-tock noise that he hates) so I was given the task of making clock headpieces...with zero budget...but I was given two feather boas and asked to make them work for all THIRTEEN girls. Yikes! Anything else was up to me (and up to my wallet). Double yikes! Here is what I came up with...I'm not super thrilled, but it looks decent from a distance and it stays on their heads (a comb is attached to the back of each one). They'll be wearing them at an angle on the sides of their heads, not perched right on top.

They're not as cute as the pumpkin headpieces I made two years ago, but my daughter is happy that we're continuing the tradition of me making part of her costuming. This is the fourth year I've made one of her headpieces, so I'm happy to keep the tradition alive for her.


And, by the way, they will not be wearing the bowlers. Can you imagine this feather creation on top of that hat? That wouldn't be pretty! We couldn't figure out how to make the bowlers work with ballet buns.

Hot glue and feathers everywhere...this accounts for some of my absence!

Vacation

Something about this picture resonates with me. I just love it. It is my favorite picture from our Easter vacation week.
That is my little boy walking up the beach and the church in the background is the Catholic church we attended on Easter Sunday. Such a sweet little church (lots of hand carving and nautical theming on the interior) and very nice people there too.
One last picture to remember our time at the beach this spring--winter hats and coats and rubber rainboots. Chilly temps and some liquid sunshine, but we still made it down to the beach!

Easter Vacation

Happy Easter! It is still the Easter season in the Catholic church, so technically I'm not late with my greetings even if Target has moved on and is selling 4th of July decorations already. We were on vacation for Easter and the week following and it was wonderful! We went on our annual beach trip and it was cold but tons of fun! Before leaving for our trip, we went on an Easter egg hunt.
Yes, the egg hunt was inside our local grocery store! It is fun for the children and perfect for our weather conditions. My children LOVE it and for weeks afterward hope they will find a stray egg leftover from the hunt. (It has never happened, but they still hope!)
Next we set out on our long drive to our vacation destination. Once we arrived, we went for a quick (chilly!) walk and then started getting ready for Easter as it was already Saturday afternoon. First we planted these magic seeds that I came across. (Idea found via Meet the Dubiens) The magic seeds enthralled my children as they had never seen seeds this big!
They planted their seeds in little pots and Easter grass (multi-colored crinkled paper) and put them in front of the "lovely" faux fireplace in the vacation condo. I told them I was pretty sure it would take all night for anything magic to happen, but they still kept checking.
Sure enough, by morning, two bunny lollipops had sprouted out of those pots! So cute! The children were thrilled and hope we come across some magic seeds to plant again next year!
We had a little egg hunt in the condo living area and the children were happy with their baskets. We've used the same baskets since my daughter's first Easter. I bought four identical wicker baskets her first Easter in the hope that I would one day have four children. I have been blessed with two children (and love them dearly, so I don't want to say "only" two children) so it looks like the other two baskets are for Mama and Dada.
These glasses make me smile! I think the Easter Bunny knew that Mama likes to take goofy pictures of her babies and this will make a perfect calendar picture!
Our Easter Sunday Mass was spent at a quaint little ocean front Catholic church. In this picture my children are standing in the church parking lot directly in front of our car. Look at that view! Breathtaking! The church was tiny but so sweet and the priest's message was wonderful. We really enjoyed the service.
One of our family traditions on Easter Sunday is to go for a drive after church and then get ice cream. Well, if you know the area, you can look at this family picture and guess where our vacation drive took us. We had a nice tour of this place and then enjoyed some fresh ice cream. Yum!
And, of course, no Easter is complete in our family without Bunny Cake! This one is rather messy and covered in crumbs and little fingerprints because I had lots of "help", but we had fun working on it together. I baked it home and we decorated it on Easter Sunday.

It was a busy day but so fun and so full of family time. Really a perfect Easter for our family.

Tulip Fields

As usual in the spring, life is crazy around here. We took a break from the craziness last weekend though and took a trip to visit the beautiful tulip fields.
Luckily the weather cooperated and we had a break in our cold weather and pouring rain--it was actually sunny and in the 50s for a change! We enjoyed the sunshine and the beautiful blooms.
My daughter wore all her tulip gear--including her tulip sunglasses, sweater, and tulip turtle shirt! We've gone to visit the tulips every year since she was four months old and she has always worn tulip themed clothing from Gymboree. I'm going to be sad when she no longer wants to "dress the part" and match the flowers!
No tulip themed clothing for this little guy! He was happy to wear his froggy boots and look at the flowers. He was not so happy about the port-a-potty though--he's still complaining about that experience!
My last picture of the day is my favorite picture--and it is a genuine one. They adore each other and I adore them. (Yes, they do argue--but they really do love each other SO much.)

Wordless Wednesday: Artist at Work

Linking up to Wordless Wednesday at Angry Julie Monday--go check out the neat parking lot she photographed. I've never seen one like it before!

Free Spring Crafts eBook

Allie from No Time for Flashcards recently invited me to have one of my crafts published in a great eBook full of spring crafts. Needless to say, I enthusiastically accepted her invitation! There are 25 crafts submitted by 15 bloggers in this great free ebook! Download your copy and get crafting!

Click here to download your free copy!

Easter Decorations

Despite a crazy weekend, I was able to get more of my Easter and spring decorating done--I showed you the mantel last week. Now if I could only get my house picked up too! This little vignette was inspired by the mossy vignette I saw over at Thrifty Decor Chick. I made my nest by putting paper lunch sacks through my shredder, my eggs are from JoAnn Fabrics, the mossy "rocks" are from Dollar Tree, and the sheet moss is left over from my bunny topiaries (more on those in a bit). Love this vignette and it looks great in my family room!
This colorful bucket of daffodils was constructed by my children two years ago and I love getting it out each year--it is such a fun pop of spring in the family room! I picked up the bunny at Goodwill last spring and spraypainted it white and he likes to sit right under the daffodils.
This is the art display in the playroom (click here for info on the vinyl and here for info on the display rack)--I finally took down the cute snowmen that my children made. Even though it is only 40 degrees outside, I'm determined to make it feel like spring inside the house!
I started off by making my bunny topiaries using bunnies from Pier One--they are mossy bunnies on a stick that cost about $2.99. Super cute and I've seen lots of versions of topiaries and crafty things done with them. I went for a simple topiary. Floral foam in a small clay pot topped with some sheet moss (cut to size) and then I jabbed my bunny stick (that I cut down just a bit) into the middle of the pot. I tied on a cute little pink bow and that was it! I love them!
In between the bunny topiaries I have one of my grandma's milk glass dishes filled with faux eggs. I have a number of milk glass dishes and containers, but my favorites are the ones that belonged to my grandma. In fact, now that I have a few (not many, but a few!) of her containers, I'm very close to getting rid of the pieces I picked up at thrift stores. The sentimentality of the family pieces means so much to me!
My living room is attached to the playroom (because the playroom really is supposed to be a dining room) so this next room flows right from the room with the piano. The table pictured above is right next to my couch. The subway printable came straight out of my inkjet printer and is from the girls over at eighteen25. I love their seasonal printables!
On the coffee table I have the same tray arrangement I did last year, including the glass pedestal I made out of a glass plate and candlestick. I get a lot of use out of that!
I also have these bunny themed Golden Books out on the coffee table for my little bunnies to read. They love it when I pull together seasonal book arrangements for them. I'm going to be sad when they outgrow this!
Here is most of the living room all decorated for spring. The messy playroom is off to the right...I shoved the excess mess out of the picture just for the picture. Isn't the little air hockey table under the window a nice touch? One of these days I want to build a console table for behind the couch, thus my barn stars are a bit high on the wall to leave space for the decor I'm planning to put on the table that doesn't exist yet. I like to plan ahead.

Ahh, spring is in the air!

Easter and Spring Decorating

I spent Wednesday putting away my St. Patrick's Day decor and getting out my spring decorations and Easter decorations. I'm still tweaking some areas, but the mantel and table are done...at least for now!
Last week I posted about the boxwood topiary I currently have on one end of the mantel. Adjacent to the topiary you'll find a small stack of vintage books from my mother's childhood (Nancy Drew, I think!) topped with a ceramic bird candle holder. At the other end I have an apothecary jar filled with twig balls (I think I bought those from Target last year) and there are two bunnies (from JoAnn Fabric) perched near the base.
As an aside, the art work on the wall is made from scrapbook paper and MDF--inexpensive and effective! Click here for more info! I didn't distress it or anything!
My children are in love with these bunnies I use in my decor each year. There is a girl bunny and a boy bunny, so of course they've named the bunnies after themselves. They like to have the bunnies on the table positioned in front of their chairs so they can watch the bunnies while they eat. This year I switched things up and added the container of carrots to the table.
I love these carrots! I bought them this year at Pier One and wasn't quite sure how I would use them, but I just couldn't pass them up. I ended up popping them into an apothecary jar and just leaving the lid off the jar since they were too tall for the jar. It works for me and they make me smile. A jar full of carrots isn't exactly my usual type of table decor, but I'm liking it.
Hopefully over the weekend I'll have the chance to finish up my decorating! I can't believe it already is April! (Update: I finished my decorating!)

Linking to: Spring Mantel Party at The Stories of A to Z

Wordless Wednesday: Junie B Jones

Wordless Wednesday--and this one speaks a thousand words to me!

Linking to: Angry Julie Monday