When I first decorated my little guy’s nursery, I felt that his wall above his crib was a little too bare. We did not decide on his name until he was born, so after he was born, I felt it was a good idea to personalize his room by creating a name banner. In just a couple of hours, I was able to make this banner, and I think it makes his room look great!
Materials:
- Scrapbook Paper – You will need one sheet per letter in the name.
- Cutting Machine – I used my Cricut Explore Air.
- Chunky Yarn – I used Belle yarn by Stitch Studio by Nicole in Steel Gray, Navy, and Periwinkle (no longer available)
- Medium Weight Yarn – I used Heather yarn by Stitch Studio by Nicole in Teal, Blue, and Navy.
- Polyester Fiberfill – You will only need a small amount to stuff the balloons.
- Small Clothespins – You will need 1-2 for each letter in the banner. I used dark blue mini clothespins.
- Thumbtacks – You will need one for each balloon, plus one for each side of the banner.
Making the Banner:
I used my Cricut machine to cut out each letter in my son’s name. I made all of the letters the same height and the same font, knowing the widths would be different. I also kept all of my letters uppercase, as I thought that looked better. I made my letters 11″ high so I could cut them out of a 12″ square piece of scrapbook paper.
When I had all the letters cut out, I laid them out with the spacing that I wanted on the floor. I then used a long piece of yarn and laid it across the tops of all of the pieces, using the clothespins to attach the letters to the yarn without creating too much tension in the yarn.
I then used a tape measure to measure how long the banner was. On the wall above the crib, I measured out the same length as the banner and put a thumbtack where each end would go. I purposely put the thumbtacks above where I wanted the banner to hang because I knew the banner would hang down a bit. I tied each end of the yarn tightly to the thumbtack, leaving a little bit of space between the first and last letter and the thumbtack.
The weight of the banner letters causes the banner to hang down a bit. I think this looks nice, but it can cause the letters to overlap each other when it is hanging. Simply adjust the letters so it hangs nicely and so that the spacing looks correct when it is hanging on the wall.
Making the Balloons:
For the balloons, I used this pattern by Left in Knots to crochet the balloons using chunky yarn. This pattern is meant to make flat re-usable water balloons, but I just added some stuffing before finishing the balloons, which made them stay nice and full. I then used my thin yarn to tie strings onto each balloon. I made the strings extra long so I had some extra to work with when attaching them to the wall. I also tied a small bow at the top when tying the string on, which I thought looked nice.
To hang the balloons, I positioned each balloon where I wanted it on the wall by putting a thumbtack into the wall and just hooking a loop from the back of the balloon over the thumbtack. When I got all three balloons in place on each side, I carefully pulled the strings tight and tied them to the thumbtack holding up that side of the banner. I left a little extra yarn hang down on each side and cut off the extra.
I love how the banner turned out, and I think it added a really cute, personal touch to my little guy’s room. This was a really easy project that I was able to do in one night, and I’d be happy to make it again.
If you try out this project, I would love to see your finished results! Please tag me on Facebook or Instagram using @onecraftatatime if you make one!
Happy crafting and crocheting!
~ Candace 🙂