How to Make a Flip Banner

While deciding what to put on my Thanksgiving Mantel, I knew I wanted to make a banner, but I was not sure what I wanted the banner to say. I was torn between having it say thankful or grateful. In deciding between these two, I came up with an idea of a flip banner. One that you can make and change to have it say different words.

This would be a great way to change up the banner for different holidays as well.  As you can see in my Christmas Home Tour, I did just that.  😉

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For this project you will need:

• 1” Book Rings
• Assorted Sizes Wooden Beads – I used 2 packages of these
• White and Colored Cardstock
• ¼” Hole punch
• Command hooks
• Twine
• Banner templates (see links below)

The design was inspired by flip calendars, the way you can just flip a number to the back and the next number is underneath.

So I knew I needed to get some sort of rings to hang the individual letters on.  Also it had to be ones that opened and closed to be able to put the letters on in the first place.  These book rings were the perfect choice.

Next I figured out how I needed to hang it.  If I just used a piece of twine, the letters would have all run together in the middle.  I needed a way to keep the letters separated from each other.  You know like the song says… “you gotta keep em separated”.  Lol.  

I had the idea to use yarn poms poms in between the letters which would have worked, BUT I had also been wanting to make a wooden bead garland. I have seen them used for decorating and love the look of them, so I thought this would be killing two birds with one stone!  Now I have a wooden bead garland to decorate with at other times as well.  🙂  I strung the wooden beads on a piece of twine that was going to be long enough to fit across my mantel with some extra hanging on the side to secure it.

I was planning on making all the banner pieces and letters with our Cricut, but while I was out at Target, I found some clearance banner items on their dollar spot. 70% off…you can’t beat that!  You can easily make these items yourself however by just printing and cutting rectangles out of burlap and letters out of kraft colored cardstock.  I ended up having to add some double stick tape to the back of the adhesive letters however, they kept falling off.  Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for. Lol.

The colored cardstock on my Thanksgiving banners came from my Stampin’ Up demonstrator days many years ago.  I don’t do much stamping anymore but the supplies do come in handy for crafts still.  Good thing they don’t expire!  🙂  If anyone is interested, the colors are Ruby Red, Really Rust, More Mustard and Old Olive.  I honestly am not even sure if they still have these colors or if they have been discontinued.

For the Christmas banner, we made up some printable images on the computer to match the buffalo plaid theme I had going on.  

Here are the templates for the blank swallowtail shape for the colored cardstock and also the buffalo plaid printable banner:  

Blank template and the & sign from the buffalo plaid banner.

B & R letters

I & G letters

H & T letters

The size of the burlap pieces is 5 x 7.5”.  I cut out the blank template to trace on my colored pieces of cardstock, then cut them out.  The buffalo plaid ones you can print directly onto the cardstock and cut out.  Cut out the holes in the corners using the ¼” hole punch.  The burlap was a little harder to cut through with the hole punch.  It helped to sandwich it between a couple pieces of cardstock scraps.

We attached the twine to the mantel on each side with a wire command hook.  We just tied the twine to the wire hanger and wrapped the excess twine around the hook to disguise it.

Because of the size of the banner pieces, I did have to unhook the book rings and take them off to change out the banner but all the pieces can stay together on the banner when in use or storing it.  

The ideas are endless here, you could make many different shapes, colors or sayings for your banner but the idea would be the same.  I would love to hear from you if you decide to make a banner too!

Kimberly