Vintage Birthday Banner - DIY

Post, Photo's and Video by Rain San Martin

This fun and festive paper Vintage Birthday Banner will work for any occasion to celebrate a loved one in your life. As it highlights the persons name, you could use this for many celebratory or congratulatory events.

Supplies

-2 shades of colored card stock, your choice. I used black for the background color and grey for the foreground.   Here you will see the card stock color Black Cat, which I have used for past projects.

-Pencil for outlining your template.

-Scissors for cutting template.

-Optional decorative edge scissors for cutting out your flags. You may use regular scissors as well. I used Fiskars Paper Edgers with a Colonial edge design. Here you will see a similar pair in the pattern Majestic.

-Hole puncher.

-Ruler

-Glue stick

-Acrylic paint or sharpie for writing the letters on banner. I used Americana paint.

-Twine  (For hanging banner.)

-Optional decorative embellishments. I made DIY bats for my husband's fun Vintage Gothic Birthday theme. Alternatively, you may leave blank just as I did for my children's banners.

Step 1 - Make flag template

Fold a piece of paper in half. Sketch half of a rectangle. Draw a slant with ruler for flag indentation.  Cut out template. This will create a mirror effect once cut.

Step 2 - Cut out background flag

Trace flag template onto background color. Cut out traced line one inch above outline with special edged scissors or regular.

Step 3 - Cut out foreground flag

Repeat step 2.  Cut out inside the traced line. You now have a smaller flag which will create a boarder effect when placed on top of the background piece.

Step 4 - Glue foreground over background flag

Use glue stick on backside of foreground and smooth onto background piece.

Step 5 - Punch holes

Use a hole puncher to create 2 holes on each flag. One on each side near the top.

Repeat steps 2-5 to create all of the letters you need.

Step 6 - Hang flags on twine.  

Thread twine through the back side of flag, then toward the front until all are threaded through.

This is a birthday banner I made for our daughter Winter using pink and black.

For our sons 10th birthday I used green and brown. Here I painted white stock paper brown as I had none on hand.  This I placed over my Gothic Fabric Banner for festive layers.

You may view my tutorial on YouTube.

Have a creative and whimsical week!

Rain 💕