Save the Date Banner: CHECK!

So yesterday I posted about my ambitions to create, by myself, a "Save the Date" banner for our engagement pictures next week. The cheapest banner I could find on Etsy was about $13.00 without the shipping. I didn't feel like paying for something that I felt like I could create myself. Today was a day full of nothing but relaxing so I rose to the challenge and successfully made our banner for next week's pictures!

My dad dropped me off at Michael's right after church this morning and I was in and out of the store in five minutes. I picked up some red acrylic paint, two spools of green and red ribbon, and four pieces of card stock. My total for all these items= $5.46.

Now, I am by no means a painter. In fact, I can't remember the last time I sat down with a paint brush just itching to PAINT something. And then I realized that I had forgotten to buy paint brushes at the craft store! Luckily, I have an avid fly-fishermen for a father who has small brushes on hand to create his own flies. Dad gave me two small brushes that ended up working perfect.

So then I turned back to the internet for inspiration and instructions. This is the original picture that gave me the idea for a Save the Date banner....

I figured we could replace the "Merry Christmas" with our wedding date to send out as Christmas cards to close family and friends as Save the Dates. That was when I was linked to the Etsy site and found the picture that I posted yesterday. I decided the easiest way to transfer the numbers to the card stock would be to simply print out and trace the outline, and paint. That is precisely what I ended up doing.

Me attempting to paint - surprisingly, it turned out pretty good!

After everything was painted onto the cards, I hole punched the top corners of each number card so that I could string the ribbon through.

Finished! You can even see evidence of the punched out holes in the corner.

I then had my brother take some pictures of the completed banner so that I could show my work off here on the blog.

Beau's first attempt at a banner picture turned into a crappy zoomed in Blackberry phone image. Let's try this again, Beau...

 

 

 

There we go.

So then I decided to take things even further. In the original picture, the cards were outlined in black to make it "pop." I found a black sharpie, used my dog's latest Vet newsletter to outline, and drew away. It does give it a little bit of a sharpness, if I do say so myself.

So here is the finished product!

 

I'm hoping that it turns out the way that I envisioned it originally on Pinterest when we take the pictures next Sunday. Luckily, the snow has fallen, winter is here and it is FINALLY starting to feel and look like Christmas, so I'm not too worried! I can't wait to have some fun next weekend and snap a few photographs to send to fam and friends, AND while using the banner! The best part about my project is that I saved over half off by doing it myself. I didn't have to mess with shipping/handling and I feel good about contributing to this idea all on my own. Hopefully by next Sunday, I can update with actual PHOTOGRAPHS of our engagement session! YAY! Can't wait :)