DIY Bunting

Originally I was going to title this DIY Birthday Bunting but you can apply this to any purpose.  I'm still not really sure even why I'm doing this blog post - mostly because facebook wouldn't let me pin one of my photos.

For the girls birthdays I tend to normally go the extra bit or completely mental going by your viewpoint.  This year I thought it would be nice if I made some bunting to hang from the fireplace.  The idea actually came about as I found some halloween paper at a craft store and I'm going to make bunting for them for Halloween (but that one is coming up after their birthday and we are going completely mental for Halloween!).  So I then thought it would be nice if I made some for their birthday... and the idea was born.

I'm normally a bit hesitant about craft projects as something will always go just a little bit wrong or I worry I don't have the skills or abilities - probably the most famous example is my whole attempt at sewing.  So I generally tend to not "do" things.  Anyway I kind of figured what was the worst that would happen - I'd waste a little bit of money on a failure.  At best I'd have something pretty that the girls would like.

The end result I'm not 100% happy with as I should have made the bunting flags a little bit bigger.  But I did start cutting the flags before I found the stickers.  That was also the sticking point (no pun meant) - I had no idea of how I was going to do the letters.  I had a vision (kind of) and the lettering was what I wasn't really sure on.  I was thinking of cutting the letters out but that meant printing the letters, transferring them and then cutting them out.  Which in theory sounds ok except I broke our printer on Monday - I snapped something, tried to fix it and ended up superglueing my finger.  At times I am really reminded of the Midvale School Far Side comic... It really does apply to me in a lot of ways.

I was originally going to attach the flags to some ribbon I found at a craft store but when I was at Target yesterday I found some red and white twine and (HUZZAH!) the stickers.  I thought the twine would be easier to use than the ribbon and it also made it easier in terms of hanging the flags - I just scotch taped the twine onto the back of the flag and then folded the top of the bunting over the twine and taped the back.  And that was it - repeat twenty-odd times and completed.

I'm actually happy with how they turned out - I know the mistakes I made now so I know what to do when I get around to making the Halloween ones I want for the girls next week.