I love bunting banners as much as the next teacher. Actually I probably love bunting a little bit more than your average teacher. I use it for everything! See evidence below......
Mrs. Cain bunting over my desk
Plastic bunting on my main wall
Focus Wall bunting on my bulletin board
And I couldn't even find pictures of my 'Book Recommendations' bunting! Do you believe I have an obsession now?!
Now my FAVORITE bunting is bunting that I make myself. Can you guess why?? BECAUSE I CAN PERSONALIZE IT (hence the name bunting, welcome bunting, and bulletin board title bunting). Now I could make bunting all day long, y'all. I created a template on my computer so I can either add a background on my computer, add letters, print it out, cut, and laminate OR I can just add the letters, print it on colored or patterned paper, cut, and laminate. The possibilities are endless!!
BUT......
There is one thing that I was super annoyed with when I started making my own bunting.......
RIBBON!!!
Now I love the idea of ribbon. But I just can't stand to use it! It is so annoying! You have to make sure that your ribbon pieces are all the same length or your bunting will look wonky. After you make sure that the ribbon is cut to the same length, you have to make sure they are tied exactly the same or else your banner will look wonky. Don't even get me started on the fraying madness! All that to say, ribbon and I do not get along.
Fear not friends! I have come up with a solution! No longer do you have to deal with fussy ribbon when making adorable, personalized bunting for your classroom! Instead of using ribbon to connect my bunting triangles together, I use...
WAIT FOR IT......
BRADS!
Insert the hallelujah chorus here y'all.
Brads to the rescue! Now some of you may be thinking...but brads are gold and ugly and don't match my beautiful bunting at all! I've got you covered there, too! Your local craft store carries tons of different varieties in the scrapbooking/paper crafts section!
Okay, now let me show you how to do this:
Supplies: your bunting triangles, a hole puncher, and some pretty coordinating brads
NOTE: You have to make sure that your hole puncher punches a smaller hole than the heads of your brads. Otherwise, your brads will slide right out and won't hold your banner together.
ALSO NOTE: If you don't laminate your bunting, you could probably just stick the brads right through the paper. I laminate mine for durability so the hole puncher is necessary!
Here we go!
First. Lay out your bunting triangles in the order that they go in (I'm using my Chevron Welcome Banner that you can find as a freebie HERE!)
Second. Punch a hole in the top corners of each triangle. NOW BE CAREFUL! Don't punch the holes too close to the edge of the triangle or the brads can tear the paper and fall out. Also remember: unless, you're going for a completely uniform look, don't punch holes in the top left corner of the first triangle or the top right corner of the last triangle. They won't have another triangle to attach to!
Now go through and place the second triangle over the first triangle. Insert the brads and fold them down on the back of each set. Keep doing this until you have a beautiful bunting banner!
Now once you hang your banner, you may notice that the prongs on your brads are hanging out like this......
Once your banner is hung you have two options to solve this issue:
1. Just turn the brad heads on the front until the prongs disappear and pat yourself on the back.
2. Do the same thing and then tape the brad prongs down on the back if you think they'll move around a lot.
Option 1 always works best for me and I've never had a problem with the prongs showing once I turn them all the right way :)
Well there you have it friends! Beautiful bunting for your classroom without all the hassle of annoying ribbon!
I hope you enjoyed this tip!
Make sure to check out the other blogs below for more great things You Oughta Know!
