LOVE Banner

As many of you know, I've been off my feet (and subsequently, my rear as well) for the past 11 days now, with a broken tailbone. It's allowed a lot of time to read, watch movies, grow increasingly antsy, with bouts of cabin fever, and, lastly, nurse my creative bones.

For instance, when I craft, I normally handle almost all my stitching by machine. I'm not a patient girl. But, I've discovered over the past week- if there is no other place pulling me to be, nothing else that needs to be done, I can be a very patient girl.

And thus started "The Great Banner Project" of 2010. It's not all that grand, or large, and certainly, if I had been up to long bouts at the machine, I probably would have done a lengthier word than LOVE. However, doing it by hand means it takes longer. I must say, though, that I love the look of the contrasting thread stitches. They look folksy, or countryish.

So here it is, the hand made (by actual hands) LOVE banner. I only used the sewing machine for a frustrating 30 minutes last night to stitch all the pieces to the ribbon. Frustrating because my machine was acting out. Probably feeling ignored and petty. Pfft. It's such a child.

I used felt in red, white, and light pink. I used red and white thread, and added red and white pom poms to the tips of the triangles and the hearts. I tried to add sequins, but they glitz did not look right, so I ripped em off.

I stitched it all to a length of light pink satin ribbon, and on the ends, I added a length of wider red satin ribbon for the hang-downs. To hang it up, I used clothes pins to pin it to my curtain.

All in all, this project is easy, and inexpensive. I used about 2 sheets of red felt, 2 sheets of white felt, and half a sheet of pink felt. The ribbon was a cast off left over I had on hand. The pom poms were left from Christmas projects. All in all, it was done with on-hand items. Price wise, I got the sheets of red & white felt in large packages from DT. I used 2 of the sheets each, and there are 14 sheets to a package. Those sheets were $.07 each, or $.28 for the red & white I used. The pink was $.47 a sheet at Walmart, but I only used half, so $.24 for the pink. The poms were in a package of around 30 of them for $1 from DT, and I used 7, so roughly $.23 for 7 puff balls. The ribbon was from a $1.99 roll of 9 yards, but I only used about 2 yards, so about $.44 for that.

Total cost would be roughly $1.19 for the banner. This project can be made with a variety of on-hand items, and the length can be adjusted up or down. I could have used less ribbon and felt had I left out the hearts, for instance.

 

 After taking a few photos, I decided to add the Ribbon & Tulle wreath I made last week behind the banner. I love it! It's so festive! Later this week, I'll photograph my new, hand decorated place mats I made while laying in bed.

 

I am hoping to be out of bed for longer periods of time this week, and to try and tackle some decoupage. I have some wooden hearts, and 1 fiber-board heart plaque I found at DT, and I want to get them done soon. I'm itching to do more crafts, and it's bothering me that I'm fairly limited in just what all I can do from bed.

 

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