DIY Party Decorations: How To Make a Mini Pennant Banner

published Jan 13, 2014
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(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

I’ve come a little late to the pennant and bunting bandwagon, but I’m here now, and I cannot get enough of adorable banners! They’re perfect for parties or weddings, but I also love to see them jazzing up a bookcase or lending a sassy wink to a traditional picture frame.

This miniature banner is a birthday gift for my crafty sister-in-law, so I chose a toned down palette of warm yellows and a pretty mauve in order to make the banner suit her home décor. The banner was so fun and fast to make that I’m tempted to make lots more to perk up my whole house and all of my gifts this year!

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

What You Need

Materials:

  • Light to medium weight paper, in an assortment of colors (My paper came from Paper Presentation, but fun paper isn’t difficult to find these days!)
  • Two yards of fun twine or embroidery floss. I’ve been a big fan of Whisker Graphics’ Divine Twine since using it for my wedding invitations several years ago.

Tools:

  • Scissors or rotary cutter, straight edge, and mat
  • Ruler
  • pencil for marking measurements
  • glue stick

Instructions

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

1.Cut a 1.5-inch strip from the shorter edge of your paper.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

2. Starting .5 inches from the top left corner, make a small mark every inch along the top edge of the strip. Then, starting 1 inch from the bottom left corner, make a small mark every inch along the bottom edge of the strip. The marks will appear to be alternating top, bottom, top, bottom, etc.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

3. Using your rotary cutter or scissors, make a cut from the bottom left corner to the first mark on the top edge of the strip.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

4. Next, make a cut from the top left corner to the first mark on the bottom edge of the strip. You have your first triangle flag!

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

5. Continue in this manner until the entire strip has been cut into triangles. Discard the first and last pieces so you’re left with only the matching triangles. Repeat steps 1 through 5 until all of your paper has been cut.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

6. Mark .25 inches in along the top and side edges of each triangle.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

7. Cut the corners off the triangle from .25-inch mark to .25-inch mark.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

8. Fold the newly created tab at the top of the triangle over your twine, leaving 18 inches of twine at each end for tying. Dab a little glue on the inside of the tab and press down for several seconds to secure.

(Image credit: Erin Roberts)

9. Repeat steps 6 through 8, spacing each triangle flag .5 inches apart, and being certain to leave an 18-inch twine tail at the end for tying.