After a very eventful weekend, I can honestly say I’ve never been more proud to be a New Yorker. Gay marriage passed and it was pride weekend. Can it get any better? I cannot explain how liberated and wonderful it felt to celebrate with my comrades. The energy was radiating and contagious. I got a taste of what it must have felt like in the past, when there was more sense of a community of people acting together. Realistically, I don’t know if it was anything like that, but it was truly fabulous.
All of this pride and excitement made me feel really crafty (I know, I know) and inspired me to whip up a pennant banner that I had been putting on the back burner for a while.
I think pennant banners are classically chic and adorable. They’re great for parties, or even as part of your home decor. If I had a craft room (one day…) that’s where mine would ideally hang. But instead I’m saving it up to decorate my booth at the craft market in P-town.
This craft is so simple that even a 5-year-old can make it. All you need are some scissor skills and some hot glue. On second thought, maybe it’s not the best craft for a 5-year-old—but they can help you cut out the paper. I’ve seen pennant banners made with a variety of materials—newspaper, fabric scraps, and cellophane. But what I decided to use was some scrapbooking paper. It provides enough weight to hold the triangular shape, it’s super cheap, and it comes in so many different colors and patterns that you can really get carried away. I opted for two opposing prints—red and white gingham, and a solid mustard color with some texture.
What You’ll Need:
2 sheets of square scrapbooking paper
Hot glue
Kitchen string
Begin by creating a template for how large or small you want each of your pennants to be. Trace that onto the scrapbook paper fitting as many as possible. With the size I made I was able to fit eight per sheet, for a total of sixteen pennants. It makes a really long banner, believe me.
Using a scissor, or one of those nifty paper cutters, cut out all of your triangles. Figure out a pattern that works for you—I alternated my two choices, but you can feel free to add as much or as little variation as you please.
Lay your string out on a table and decide approximately the amount of space you want between each pennant. Then, place two dabs of hot glue on the upper right and left hand corners of your paper pennants and place it on the string. You might want to do this over a table you don’t care much about, because the hot glue can get stuck to the table. Or you can just place a piece of cardboard underneath. If it makes you feel better, the hot glue did get stuck to my table, but I was able to pop it right off once it dried.
Once the glue is dry, you’re ready to decorate your homemade paper pennant banner. I left mine blank, but you can stencil just about anything on them. Now go get crafty!
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you just lost me!
Uh oh… I don’t like lost people.
Cute, and a great way to use up some of the patterned paper I have that can’t be used for card making because it’s too busy.
Great idea! Glad you enjoyed it.
Aha – I always thought that these were folded over the paper. This is great – and it was certainly an exciting week. Thanks for this great web site.
Thanks, Leslie! You could go the folded paper route but this is much easier
these are fantastic! i love little bunting banners. i saw a miniature one on a cake once and fell in love!
Totally sweet project, and YAY NEW YORK! Show the rest of the country that allowing every citizen the freedom of committing their lives to one another is positive and necessary! Well worth celebrating!
thank you for sharing! planning my boy’s 1st birthday and will definitely make a pennant banner now!
Great! How did it turn out Jennifer?
His birthday isn’t until the end of June, so I still have lots of time to practice! I will definitely keep you posted!
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