DIY: Pottery Barn Knock-off "Give Thanks" Holiday Glitter Banner

You bet I will. 

So, a few weeks ago I had some time to kill at the mall as I waited for my roommate to get out of a movie.  I wandered through the usual clothing shops out of habit, but then found I spent most of my time perusing the decor in Pottery Barn Kids.  Ugh.  I really love some of the Pottery Barn styles.  Unfortunately, I don't generally tend to love the Pottery Barn prices.  Ouch.  Especially on a budget.
 But!  What I did find, was that a lot of the items they had were actually things I could make with my Cricut or Silhouette.  Win!  So, I did what any self-respecting DIY crafter would do: I took some pictures on my phone and came home to see how I could make them on my own for a cheaper price. :)  Thus, this is your heads up that in the next month or so I'm probably going to be doing some Pottery-Barn knock-offs for my posts based on what I found that day. So look for those. :)

One item that I saw in the store that day was a gold, glitter "Give Thanks" banner they had as part of their Thanksgiving decor. Here's the totally lame picture I took on my phone to remind myself how they tied the letters to the twine:

This is the actual Pottery Barn version

I came home and looked for it on their website to see how much it would cost to buy from them.  While I couldn't find the "Give Thanks" swag banner, I did find a Merry Christmas one.

Pottery Barn glitter holiday banner...$39.50.  Ouch.  I'd say mine averaged about $3 a piece.

They were selling the Merry Christmas glitter banner for $39.50.  Well.  I KNOW we can do better than that.  Depending on you've got on hand, you could make one of these bad-boys for an average price of under $3.  Even if you have NOTHING on hand, you can still make it for less than $20 (with left overs of all the materials, which you could use for multitudes of future projects), which is still half-off their price, and they don't give you any of the left-over materials.  Yeah.  Cheap.  With a sheet of our chipboard costing about 35 cents a piece, and my only using about 4 sheets, this was NOT an expensive project. Let me tell you all you need:

Materials Needed:

* Silhouette Chipboard 

* Mod Podge

* Glitter (doesn't have to be fine glitter...mine was big, and looked great)

* Twine or string

* Gold spray paint (optional)

* Sealant Spray (optional)

Simple, right?  Yeah.  I actually had ALL of those things on hand already, so this was an easy project to bring to pass. Here's how you do it. 

First, pick your font and cut out your letters using Silhouette Chipboard, following the settings in Silhouette Studio for chipboard.  My font choice was inspired by the Merry Christmas sign I'd found online, because suddenly I couldn't picture it in any other font (forgetting even the pic I had on my phone, in a different style).

See those beautiful, crisp lines? 

I wasn't thinking when I cut out my first few letters, but by the second sheet in I remembered I needed to have holes cut out to string the twine through, so I added in some circles to be cut at the tops of my remaining letters.  You should just do it from the start. :)

Add circles to be cut in the tops of your letters for you to string the twine through.

Don't worry.  If you forget to do that, like I did at first, you can always just use a hole-punch to cut out the holes later.  That's what I used for my first set.

Note: to save your blade a little bit, blow into the casing of your blade after each sheet is cut to remove any fibers or other scraps of paper that may be wedged in there.  Some people have suggested using canned air (like the type people use to clean their computer keyboards) to clean this little casing of unwanted fibers and debris.  This will help you continue to get clean cuts in the future.

Next, once your letters are cut, you can (but don't have to) spray paint the front of the letters with gold spray paint (or whatever color glitter you will using to put on top of it.) This will help hide any areas where glitter may fall off in the future, or that you miss with your initial glueing.

Optional:  You can spray paint the letters before glueing on the glitter.

Next, once that is dry (if you chose to do it), use a sponge brush to paint the front of the letter with Mod Podge.  As soon as the letter is covered in Mod Podge, sprinkle glitter generously over the entire letter until you have covered the entire surface.  Tilt off the excess glitter and give it a light shake to remove loose glitter.  (Catch the excess glitter below, obviously--unless you want an even bigger mess. :) ) Repeat this with each of your letters.  Also, at this point, if you are choosing to use a finishing spray, apply it over the top--one coat is fine.  But really, I'm not sure if this is even necessary.

Either way, give the letters (glue, etc.) time to dry before moving on to the twine.

Pretty letters covered in Mod Podge and glitter.

Once your letters are dry, you can start stringing your letters.  Measure out your twine so that you have a piece about two-feet longer on either end of the words. Start with the first letter ("G"), and pull the twine all the way through so that the majority of your piece of twine is pulled through the hole, and can be used to continue stringing the remainder of the letters.

For each hole I would go in through the back of the hole on the left-hand side of the letter, loop it around to the back, tie a knot, and then come in on the top--coming from the right-edge of the letter--on the right side of the letter.  Tying a small loop or knot on the back of each hole sort of helps hold the twine and letter in place.  It's not necessary, but it does help.

Once you've finished stringing all your letters, you're done!  Give thanks. ;)

Hang that lil' feller up and tell yourself "Pottery Barn--thanks for the inspiration."  Then feel glad you saved money, and that your house looks festive, glittery, and grateful. :)

BONUS:

For an extra touch, I thought the banner needed a little something Fall-ish to hang from the ends.  So, I made these adorable and super-simple "acorn" ornaments (obviously made of pinecones).  

Just hot glue twine around the top in a circle until you get to the tip.  End with a loop, and you've got yourself a homemade ornament!  I made a bunch from pinecones I found in my front yard, and can't wait to add these to my Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations this year as well.  

Simple as that. :)