DIY PINATA BANNER

This banner was actually one of our wedding decorations, but I also used it to surprise Graeme on the morning of his birthday yesterday! It was a bit of a time consuming project, so I'm very happy that I got to use it more than once already (and totally saving it for potential use later haha). And who knows, maybe I can use the letters again to spell something different? What anagrams can I get out of "Graeme & Hilde"....?

I had so many ideas for wedding-related DIY projects, and one of these ideas was a Graeme & Hilde banner as a decoration at our venue. We also set up a DIY photo booth complete with homemade props and temporary tattoos designed by one of Graeme’s friends, made our own favors and a super simple guest book (which was such a last minute idea, I was literally printing out, cutting and gluing in photos in the book the morning of the wedding haha). The banner was one of the more time consuming projects though, but I’m really happy with how it turned out so I thought I’d share how I made it. My original plan was actually to make a gold one using gold wrapping paper, but after trying that out and deciding it didn't look nice enough, I decided to take it more in a piñata direction.

To make this banner, start by cutting out the cardboard letters. Print out the letters you're going to make on printer paper, tape them onto cardboard, and use a craft knife to cut them out. I used the font Homestead which you can download here. Once all your letters are cut, adhere the tissue paper. Start at the bottom of each letter, first covering the bottoms with two layers of paper, and then work your way up. I found that the easiest way was to cut long strips of tissue paper, gluing directly onto the cardboard and then cutting to size as you go along. Curves and corners can be tricky, but it really doesn't have to be perfect. Once all your letters are done, lie them face down and attach the string. I kept it simple and just taped it on the back.

Adhering the tissue paper is easily the most time consuming part, and the part where you might start to question a few things. I definitely questioned my sanity at points, and wondered why I started the project in the first place when I had so many other things to do. And why Graeme and I don’t have cute (short) nicknames for each other; it’d be so much more efficient. But once I was done with the whole banner, it all made sense. It looked pretty awesome at our wedding, and I’m sure I'll end up reusing them again. I mean, who doesn’t love a good banner?


Ps. Needless to say, everyone will be getting their Christmas presents wrapped in gold wrapping paper this year!

Pss. The top and bottom photos are by our wedding photographer, Desiree Mostad.