{Crafty Tutorial} Chalkboard Burlap Banner

I am always looking for ways to reuse some of my decor throughout the different seasons without having to recreate the wheel.  I made a FALL burlap banner back in September to use throughout the fall months and with Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it might be time to take it down and put something different up.

As I was browsing through Hobby Lobby recently (we just got a new one that is closer to me) I came across CHALKBOARD PAPER!! I thought it was the coolest thing because I am very into EVERYTHING chalkboard right now.  So I thought to myself, what if I made a chalkboard banner that could be changed simply for different holidays or occasions??  And that is what I set out to do...make a lovely chalkboard burlap banner!

First, the supplies that will be needed:

• 1 piece of chalkboard paper (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)
• Paper cutter
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Hot glue gun
• Burlap (I used 5 in. burlap ribbon that I had on hand, also from Hobby Lobby, but you could use a larger piece and just cut to the size you want)
• Twine, string, or ribbon of your choice
• Chalk (not pictured, to write on your banner) 
• Mini clothespins (optional, you can always either hot glue your pendants to the string or punch holes, but I like to hang mine with clothespins because that way it is more interchangeable. Oh, and I got mine at Walmart)

The first step, after you gather all of your materials, is to decide what size you want your pendants to be.  I made mine 3.5 in wide and the height (5 in.) of the burlap ribbon that I had.  Once you decide on the right size, you can start to measure out and mark your burlap using a marker and a ruler.  Make sure you measure and mark out enough pendants as you will need or want for your sign.  The beauty is you can always make more if you need to for a certain saying.  I was making mine to say "Give Thanks," so I marked out 10 pendants.

Next, you can cut out your burlap pendants.  I use my extra sharp scissors to get crisp lines.


When you are done, you will be left with ten equal sized pendants.  And you are ready to move onto the chalkboard paper.

(Keep in mind, you don't have to back your chalkboard paper with burlap if you don't want to.  I just like to give it a little bit more interest and that is why I chose to use burlap.  If you don't want to use burlap, you can skip to the next step.)







At this point, you will want to figure out what size to cut your chalkboard paper in order to allow a little border of burlap to show around the sides.  I decided to make my chalkboard pendants 2.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches for the height.  I used my paper trimmer to cut the chalkboard paper to the correct height.

Then, I used my ruler and a marker to measure and draw lines for my pendants.  I measured out enough pendants for my "Give Thanks" saying.

Go ahead and cut out those chalkboard pendants using your scissors.  You will be left with chalkboard pendants that are a bit smaller than your burlap pendants as you see in the picture below.

Once you have all your pendants cut out, you are ready to glue the chalkboard ones onto the burlap ones.  Get your hot glue gun plugged in and heated up!  I just put three small dabs of hot glue on the back of each chalkboard pendant and then pressed it onto the burlap pendant.  You have to make sure to press on the glue but then lift it up, or else it will stick to whatever paper you have underneath the burlap.

Once you get all of your chalkboard pendants glued to your burlap pendants, you are ready to write on your banner!! Yes, it is that easy!

I don't have very fancy or interesting handwriting, but I try my best!  I went over each letter a couple of times with the chalk to make it a little thicker to stand out.  Now get your twine, string, or ribbon, whatever you are going to use and cut it to the length that you need.  You can always do two strings and hang at different heights if you have a long saying, like "Happy Birthday" or "Merry Christmas."

If you are not using mini clothespins, you will want to either glue your pendants to your string or punch holes and run the string through.  If you are using mini clothespins, hang up your string and then simply begin to pin your pendants onto the string.

And TA-DA! You have a chalkboard banner that you can use over and over again.  Simply use a wet paper towel to carefully clean off any chalk, allow it to dry, and write whatever you wish! If you need more pendants to complete your saying, you can always make more!  I think I will make another ten on another day to use for other occasions.

Hopefully, you enjoyed our first craft tutorial today!  Have you crafted a banner lately?  What did you use for yours??