I love to use banners on my mantel, I think they add so much!  It is almost to the point that the mantel now looks “naked” without one.  LOL.  The idea for this beaded cotton lace spring banner came about after a trip to Hobby Lobby.  I found a cotton lace table runner there that I loved, but not to use as a table runner!  🙂 My mind immediately went to what I could make out of it.  I thought of several different ideas, but this was one that I knew I could use right away for my purple palette spring mantel.  

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For this project you will need:

• Cotton Lace Table Runner (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)
• Mod Podge
• 1” Book Rings
• Assorted Sizes Wooden Beads – I used 2 packages of these
• Colored Cardstock
• ¼” Hole punch
• Command hooks
• Scissors
• Burlap roll
• Foam brush
• Ultra Fine Point Sharpie marker
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Piece of Twine
• Banner templates (see flip banner tutorial)

The wooden beads, rings and burlap pieces are something that I have used previously with my flip banner.  I have not really used it as a flip banner as I have taken off the other seasonal banners when I use it, but you could leave them all on there if you did not want to store them separately.  Don’t you love the look of the wooden bead garland on the banner too!  I need to make some more to use around as decor.  😉

You can make this using any color of cardstock you want, I used purple to fit in with my spring mantel.  The cardstock I used is from Stampin’ Up, it is called Perfect Plum.  Using my banner swallowtail template, I traced it onto the purple cardstock and cut it out.  See my flip banner tutorial to get the template and sizes for the burlap rectangles.

I decided that I would make letters out of the cotton lace table runner.  It was pretty stiff to begin with but I wasn’t sure if it would unravel when I cut out the letters.  I thought about using Mod Podge to attach the table runner to some cream colored cardstock and cut it all out at once.  However, if I did it that way you would not be able to see the purple cardstock through the lace.  Mr. Wonderful suggested that I just paint the back of the table runner with Mod Podge, let it dry and that should hold it all in place.  He is just full of good ideas!!

We took it down to the wood shop and I started painting on the Mod Podge with a foam brush.  I applied too much at first and it started showing through the spaces of the lace on the front side.  When it dried, it turned a darker color so when you are applying the Mod Podge just do it lightly so you only paint the back of the table runner.  We left it to completely dry.  It was a lot stiffer after applying the Mod Podge, which was perfect for what I needed!  

Using the font Verdana (bolded and size 400), I printed out some letters on cardstock.  I used a fine tip sharpie marker to trace the letters onto the table runner. 

I traced the letters on the back side of the table runner because you could still see some of the marker after it was cut out and I did not want that showing on the front.  But…make sure to trace the letters backwards since you are tracing them on the back side!  Another tip is when tracing the letter, try to place the letter with the corners not ending in an open space in the lace.  This way you will have nice pointed corners on your letters.

Using a hot glue gun, I glued the letters to the purple cardstock pieces.  I tried to put the glue on more dense areas on the lace so it did not leak through to the front.  Try to do this quickly so the glue does not cool before flipping the letter over and attaching it to the cardstock.

Using the rings, add the purple cardstock along with the burlap pieces to the wooden garland.  Try to space them out evenly.  You can see below where one of the corners ended in an open space in the lace so that corner is not pointed (this is what I was talking about earlier) .  From farther away though you can’t tell very much!  🙂

Doesn’t it look so pretty and springy?  I love the look of the lace letters.  I can’t wait to do some more projects with the rest of the table runner!  This only took a small portion of it.  I have a couple ideas for it but would love to hear if you have any ideas on what I could use it on.  🙂