For a few years now, I've had an idea for a Valentine's Day banner to put on our balcony. One day while shopping at Walmart, I found some laminated burlap sheets and thought they'd be perfect to use, so I bought them ;)
When I finally got around to making my banner, I noticed the burlap sheets showed them being printed on. Originally, I thought of making a heart stencil with my printer and then painting the burlap, but after noticing they could be printed on, I changed my tune a little. Using Photoshop Elements, I made a template of the banners. I fit two on a sheet. Then I also placed a large heart on them. I think printing made it even better because I could use the measuring tools and make sure the hearts were in the same places and the banners were the same size. After a test, I printed out all of the burlap sheets.
Then it was time to cut! I'm so glad I included a template of where to cut the banners. It made this step really easy. :)
I left an extra inch on top so I could fold the burlap over my twine. To make sure I got them all folded over the same, I used a handy-dandy tape measure and my iron to make a crease of where the twine would end up.
My banners were 5.5 inches across, so I had to hot glue them to my twine in sections. I found what worked best for me was to run a quick line down the crease of the flags and use that to stick the twine in. Then I ran hot glue in a zigzag under that to lay the rest of the seam over.
I was also fixing some of Henlie's hair bows, which worked out perfectly. I used a hair clip to show where I needed to lay the next flag. Our railing is 10 feet across, and I ended up leaving a flags' width between flags on the twine. This actually turned out super nice since it let me fold the banner up easily for storage.
I think it turned out super cute. It's exactly what I was hoping for. I do want to get some sealant next year, probably, just to make sure the hearts stay put in the snow, but for this year, it worked out great :)
