Pennant Banner

img_5748Pennant Banners are one of the most simple sewing projects and can add pops of color to any room or front porch.  They can be used as a party decoration, on a mantle or mirror during the holidays, or in a child’s room.  They can be made out of paper, material, or burlap.  The possibilities are endless!  I have made various kinds of pennant banners for many occasions.  For this post, I’m featuring the most recent one I made for a friend of mine, but I’m also including one of my most popular youtube video tutorials on how to make a pennant banner.

With Valentine’s Day only a couple of weeks away, you may want to make your own version of this LOVE Pennant Banner to hang on your mantle!  After watching my tutorial on How to Make A Pennant Banner, you will need a couple of additional steps to add letters to your banner.  img_5487

You will need to purchase a package of light Seam A Seam 2 from your local fabric store.  Find a font you like on your computer.  Print your letters in the size you want them to be on your banner.  Cut out the letters.  Turn your letters over and trace them onto a sheet of the Seam A Seam.  Peal the bottom off and adhere to the fabric you have chosen for your letters.  Iron over the top to attach the Seam A Seam to your fabric.  Cut out the letters, following the lines you initially traced.  Peel the backing off.  Your fabric letters should now be slightly tacky on the back.  Position them on your banner exactly as you want them.  Iron them for about 20 -30 seconds one at a time.  Your banner is now complete.  For a more in depth tutorial on how to use the Seam A Seam to attach letters to fabric, watch my Advent Bags Tutorial.

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My friend decided to use this pennant banner for her daughter’s nursery.  It just so happened to work perfectly with the colors she chose and I am so thrilled to see it hanging up in this precious baby girl’s bedroom.

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Children’s Art Corner

My daughter loves art!  She will sit for hours drawing, writing stories, and coloring pictures.  I have several areas set up around our house with art supplies, but I recently decided to put together a more intentional art space for her.

Michael’s was having a huge sale one day, so I headed over (with my coupons of course) and picked up these metal A R T letters,  the chalkboard box for crayons, and the off white tray for paper.  The rest, I already had around my house.

These adorable chairs were made for me by my brother when I was a child.  They were in my childhood room, painted light pink, with dark pink carpet covering the seats.  My mom gave them to me several years ago and I repainted and recovered them for my daughter.  The wicker table belonged to my mom, who passed away a year and a half ago, so it means a lot for my daughter to have something so special to remind her of her sweet Grandma.

I bought the metal bucket years ago at the dollar store and it has held colored pencils in various locations around our house.  Now it has a permanent home.  I had used the mini white shutters last year for my Christmas mantle, but realized they were the perfect addition to this little art corner.  The finishing touch was this bright and cheerful pennant banner.  I had already cut the triangles for another project, so it only took me a few minutes to thread them through a piece of twine.

I absolutely love when I can use what I already have to create an inviting space for my children to enjoy.  This little art corner has already gotten a lot of use in our home and is the perfect setting for inspiration to take place!

New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve is always a much anticipated night for our family.  It is, of course, the one night a year that my little night owls are given permission to stay up until midnight!  We started the tradition of celebrating a “family friendly” New Year’s Eve a couple of years ago.  Some years we have joined together with other families.  This year it was just the 5 of us at home for the evening.

fullsizeoutput_d589I kept things inexpensive by hitting up our local Dollar Tree for supplies, and then I went to work.  I already had paper bags, card stock, and glue sticks, so our “On the Hour Bags” didn’t cost a dime!  My plan was to start our evening festivities at 6:00, so I made a bag for each hour from 6:00 pm – Midnight.  I googled “free printable clock templates” and then added the clock hands to each one before printing them out onto white card stock.  I traced around a bowl to get perfect circles on the shiny blue and sparkly card stock behind the clocks.  A few finishing touches later, and the bags were done.

What was in each bag?  Each bag contained something that had to do with the activity for that hour.

6:00 pm: Time Capsule Printouts & A Mason Jar     We started a new tradition this year, and it was a huge hit!  I looked up some ideas for the time capsule template on Pinterest, and then created my own for our family.  We began our evening by sitting at the table together and filling in our favorites, reflections from 2016, & resolutions for 2017.  Then we read them to each other, rolled them up and placed them in a mason jar.  Our plan is to open them up on New Year’s Eve 2017, read them together, and then create a new time capsule.  I’m pretty sure this will continue to be a treasured tradition.

fullsizeoutput_d58dimg_53897:00 pm: Glow Sticks & Balloons     This was SO….MUCH….FUN!  We put glow sticks in balloons and then had an epic living room battle.  Boys vs. Girls with Dad as the DJ.  We turned off all the lights and made a line of glow sticks dividing the floor in half, girls on one side, boys on the other, with 6 glowing balloons on each side.  When Dad played the music, we would try to get all the balloons onto the opposing side.  When the music stopped the team with the least balloon on their side was the winner.  The girls started off strong, but after 5 rounds, the boys were the ultimate winners!  I’m telling you…I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!     

img_53948:00 pm: Popcorn & A Red Box Movie     Popcorn and movie nights are a family favorite for us, and my kids really wanted to see the movie Storks!  Perfect for one of our New Year’s Eve activities!

img_54039:00 pm: Gummy Worms with a “Dessert Break” note attached     We took an intermission from the movie to get dessert.  This year, I made a delicious ice cream pie with a clock face.  I used gluten free Joe Joe’s cookies from Trader Joes to make an “oreo” crust, filled it in with vanilla bean ice cream, and poured homemade chocolate fudge frosting over the top.  While it was setting in the freezer, I made a clock on wax paper out of melted white chocolate and placed it on top of the frozen pie.  We also included gummy worms for the “non ice cream eater” in our family.

fullsizeoutput_d5bc10:00 pm: M&M’s, Marshmallows, and Straws     Game Time: I found this idea under “minute to win it” games on Pinterest.  I set the table with two paper plates for each player.  One plate contained M&M’s and marshmallows.  The other was empty.  Each player was given a straw (cut to about 3/4 size).  At my “GO” the players had to suck up the candies and mallows to make them stick to their straw and transfer them from one plate to the next.  The first player to get all of theirs transferred had to call out “Happy New Year!”  Micah for the win!

img_541311:00 pm: A Big Bag of Skittles     Make a rainbow science experiment!  I had seen a couple of videos on youtube of this simple and fascinating science experiment, so I thought it would be a fun way to keep my tired children awake that last hour before the ball dropped.  Check out our “make a rainbow” video!

12:00 pm: Cups for Sparkling Cider and Party Horns     We opened our final bag about 10 minutes early.  Little Sister put on her party hat (she was the only one willing to wear one this year).  We filled our cups with cider and got ready to ring in the New Year!  We found a countdown on TV, and when the clock struck midnight, we ran outside yelling Happy New Year!!! Oh, and Micah finally got the chance to use that blow horn he got for Christmas! fullsizeoutput_d5ba