Believe banner

I have a banner obsession

And this banner is my Christmas pride and joy. Now, realize that this would showcase so much better if I was all decked out for Christmas. But let's be honest: It's January, and all my Christmas stuff is sitting in a tub waiting to be carried down 3 flights of stairs to the garage. So we will just have to make do. :) This banner at Room to Inspire was my inspiration.   Chelsea has an excellent tutorial.

I didn't find cute chipboard stars, but I did buy actual wooden stars. I keep having to count up the letters in "believe". There are 7, so that makes 7 stars. I debated about painting them first, but decided to make it easier on myself by skipping that step! Next, I downloaded the sheet music to Silent Night. I wanted an old-fashioned look, so I gave them an antiquish look in PhotoShop, and then printed out enough copies to Mod-Podge music to the fronts and backs of each lovely star. I absolutely love how this looks. Love the music, love the song, love the shape, love the overall look.

For my letters, I printed out large, very standard letters from my computer, and then distressed them to give them an aged look. Next, I applied glue and glitter to them. I used my Cricut to cut out the black scalloped shapes to mount each letter and found some perfect gold paper to tie it all together. Lots of gluing, but it was worth it! I was in heaven when I found a container of gold buttons at Michael's, so I hot glue'd some on. (Many of them were falling off, so I did end up securing them with stronger glue.)

Finally, I just had to beg my husband to drill the holes in the tops of each letter. I hung each letter, secured it to the main ribbon with a dot of hot glue, and carefully threaded my gold ribbon through.

Normally I am not a gold girl... I am more of a silver gal. But there's something so bright and shimmering about this banner. So Christmasey. So perfect.