LOVE Banner Tutorial

Valentine's Swap Season is here, so I thought while I'm crafting my little heart out I'd do a little step-by-step tutorial for this adorable Valentine's Day LOVE banner/garland.

Cut a 12x12 piece of paper into fourths. Measure and mark the halfway mark (3") at the bottom of each square. Line up the top corner with the mark and cut forming a triangle from each paper.


I've done this part a couple of ways. You can print the letters out on paper and cut out the actual letter or you can print them onto a coordinating paper and cut them out like I did below. The font size will vary depending on the font used. This one was a font size of 150.

For the little fans, cut your paper into 12 by maybe 1" strips. There are a couple of different ways to make these. This is how I do it.


Fold the paper accordion style.

Glue the ends together. I use Aleene's Craft Glue. Hot glue would probably work ok too, I just avoid hot glue unless I really need it, because I hate having to pick off the spiderwebs and it just doesn't dry as clear.


Using a scrap piece of cardstock as your base, glue the accordion ring down, forming the fan.


Also squeeze some glue into the center of the fan to hold it extra well. Press down for 10-15 seconds.


Ta-Da!!!


The cardstock base makes it nice for attaching to the banner.


How cute!


I added some lace trim.

There are several ways to attach the pieces together.

Here's another banner I did last night. Instead of the fans I used buttons to embellish it.



My daughter made a simple banner too.

Here's the one I made last week. You can see how I cut the letters out for this one. I also attached it differently. I wove the ribbon through each piece. The background for the letters is photocopied and tea-dyed sheet music (for a Chorus Line, if you're interested).


And here's one I made a couple of years ago for Halloween. I used newspaper, cardstock and cut out the letters. This one is attached with brads. I remove the brads for storage and keep all the pieces in a gallon-sized ziplock bag. I've had it for a while and storing it that way keeps it nice.


I hope you've all enjoyed this tutorial. I know I did a lot of research when I wanted to start making banners and something like this would have been helpful.