Fall Banner With a Little Help From My Toddler

I have been seeing a lot of those super cute fall pendant banners on Pinterest and decided it was time to make one of my very own. I also had pinned a Fall craft for my 21 month old and thought it would be super cute to incorporate both of them. So I cut out some leaves put them in ziploc baggies and let Mr smush away.

Unfortunately, as with any craft I try these days, only two came out well enough to use for the banner. The others stuck to the baggies and tore, or stuck to the paper I had laid them on to dry. Mostly my fault since apparently we had used way too much paint.., who knew?

As I said earlier.., love the banners I had been seeing on Pinterest, and I also love button projects, so I combined the two and decided to print out tree templates, add some felt, and hot glue some buttons.., here's how they turned out..,

 











I also added some cupcake liners I had cut with scissors to create button-flowers. I added some colored hemp I had to create the lacing on the buttons..,


The next step was to incorporate the leaves my little boy had created during our first craft session together. I found some ribbon that I loved and had used for a previous craft and then I had my next two pieces of my Fall Banner..,



  















Finally I wanted to add another pair of pendants to the banner and decided since this was going across the fireplace and the mantel was decorated with pumpkins, I needed to add pumpkin pendants. I printed out some templates of pumpkins and leaves on construction paper and glued them down on some felt, like I had done to the tree cutout. I liked how they looked but they just needed something else, so I pulled out my old paints and charcoals to see what I could come up with. The pumpkins and leaves were so flat that by adding shading with oils and acrylics, it looked so much better and added the depth that the pieces really needed. I love the thought of a full moon so I added that to the background in white and black charcoals. And this is how they turned out..,

My next step was to create a rope or hanging device to attach these to so I could finally hang the banner on the fireplace. I make hemp jewelry part time and had several wonderful colors to choose from. So I got out my brown, red, and orange and braided a rope to hang the banner on. The holes made by the hole punch weren't quite big enough for the knots in the braided hemp, but I finally got it to work for me with some patience while Mr was napping this afternoon. I put a couple of small nails in the mantel, unfortunately I couldn't figure another way to hang it, and here it is...,

I love how it turned out and so excited that Mr was able to help me with it. I didn't want to add too much to the pendant where his leaves were, so they look a little bare compared to the rest, but I wanted them to take 'center stage' so to speak so that as he grows up and we decorate every year for Fall, I can say he helped me create our very own Fall Banner. : o)