Be My Valentine Banner

Remember when I showed you this picture?

I mentioned a few days ago that I've had the crafty nitch latley.

I've seen such amazing creations through other blogs and it's really got my juices flowing with creativity. I love it. Plus, it's the month of LOVE and what fun to create things using hearts and all things pink and red. Right?

So, I've been working on this Valentine banner for a few days. Alexa helped me cut out the letter patterns and Lillian helped me cut the thread. She is really getting good at using the scissors lately.

It's hard to get a close up of the whole thing, cuz it's so long.
It says "be my valentine".

I did not prepare a tutorial (I am going to do one of those some day), but it's super easy.

I basically just took some felt (which was leftover from the girls' poodle skirts from the sock hop) and cut them into rectangles. I didn't measure, so they aren't perfect, but that's kind of what I was going for. haha! I printed off some letter patterns online and had Alexa help me trace them onto some red and pink fleece (you could use any material, but this is what I had in Valentine colors) and cut them out. I went every other color, red, pink, red, pink and so on. Then, I stitched all around the rectangle, folding the top over about 1/2" making a loop to string the wire through. I stitched on each letter by hand, that's why it took me a few days. After all the letter's were finished, I strung some white wire through the loops making the banner. To seperate each word and letter, I cut strips of fleece to tie in between. I put about 4 or 5 of them between each word and one in between each letter to space everything out a bit. I think it turned out pretty cute. I love the added lovey dovey touch it adds to the kitchen and the wax crayon hearts on the windows.

Alexa really wanted to help sew, so I cut out a couple hearts for her to practice on. I was so impressed with how patient she was and how well her hearts turned out.

Lillian practicing cutting with the scissors. She made a huge mess, but it was worth it. She got lots of practice time in and she is rocking it with those scissors now.