Crafternoon Project #1: Burlap Garlands

"Crafting your heart out makes room for your soul to grow."
-Sara Lanan, CraftSnob.com

For whatever reason, I've considered these burlap garlands to be the main event at my Crafternoon party. They didn't end up being the biggest or the most complex project of the afternoon, but I think these shabby chic garlands would look dandy in any home... as a festive Christmas banner or a year-round decoration.

To allow time for the paint and glue to dry, I suggested that my Crafternoon guests work on the burlap garland project early in the afternoon. We used long pieces of wax paper to keep the paint and glue from seeping through the fabric and to help transport the garland to the foyer or patio to dry.

Burlap Garlands
What you need:

• Burlap fabric cut into triangles... here's a trick for cutting burlap in straight lines
• Twine
• Scissors
• White fabric paint
• Foam brushes
• Letter stencils
• Wax paper
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• [Optional] scraps of fabric or ribbon

What you do:

1. Gather the correct number of burlap triangles, a sheet of wax paper long enough to stretch the length of the whole banner, and a length of twine long enough to extend past the ends of triangles.
2. Hot glue the twine to the top of the burlap triangles, folding over the edge to help keep it in place.
3. Place banner on a long sheet of wax paper before beginning to stencil. [The paper will catch the excess paint that goes through the holes in the burlap.]
4. Place letter stencil in the center of the triangle. You’ll want to be careful with the parts of the stencil that are hanging on, especially as they get wet.
5. Carefully dab (don’t rub) the paint around the stencil with a foam brush.
6. Carefully remove stencil, and use foam brush to tidy up any areas, make paint darker, etc.
7. [Optional] Tie scraps of fabric at each end.

**Suggested Words**
Family, Love, Joy, Be Merry, Last Name, Hope, Faith, Home, Mr & Mrs, J Loves R, Believe, Blessed, Rejoice, Welcome, Let’s Eat, Celebrate, Shine