DIY Burlap Nursery Banner

I wanted to make something special for my little guy and what better than a burlap banner?! There are lots of cute banners on Pinterest and Google so after lots of searching, I pieced together what I think is the best way to make one - it's easy, quick, cheap and super cute.
You can make the banner pieces any size you would like and depending on what you want the banner to say, keep in mind how big/small it will be once hung. I knew that I wanted my banner to hang across a wide wall and that it would contain nine letters so when I made my template, I made sure to size the triangles accordingly at 6" wide and 7.5" long. I think the total cost of this project was under $5 because I already had a lot of things around the house like the heavy paper, ruler and permanent markers. The burlap was less than $2 at Jo-Anns, the yarn less than $3 and the clothespins are from the Dollar Tree.

What  you need: 

1 yd burlap

1 piece heavy paper

Ruler

Permanent marker

Scissors

Cotton yarn or twine

Clothespins

Sewing machine + thread

Computer + printer

What to do: 

Create a triangle template with your heavy paper. I drew a horizontal 6" line and put a dot at the 3" mark. From the 3" mark, I drew a vertical 7.5" line. I then drew out the triangle by connecting the tip of the vertical line with the edges of the horizontal line.

With a permanent marker, trace your banner pieces with the template onto the burlap. In my case, I traced 9 triangles then cut them out. Since burlap is woven, it can come apart easily so I cut outside the lines in case parts came unwoven and I needed to trim. If your burlap is wrinkled, iron it straight.

With a sewing machine, sew along the edges of the triangles as close as possible to prevent the burlap from coming apart. 

Find a font for your banner. There are a few websites where you can download fonts for free and I used "Typewriterhand" from dafont.com in size 350. You may have to play around with font sizes because at this point, you have a specific space on your triangles where the font can fit and you don't want the font to be too large or too small. Once you have your letters typed up, print them out and you can start your letter tracing. Place your  burlap over the paper and with a permanent marker, trace the edges of the letter onto the burlap triangles. Fill in the letters a couple times over and voila! Repeat for each letter you need. 

Next, cut your yarn or twine to the length you want for hanging. Arrange your letters and hook onto the yarn with the clothespins. Hang where you like and you are done! You should know have a beautiful DIY burlap banner.

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Baby Holguin - 22 Weeks

Mama knows best. I posted a couple weeks back about my nagging intuition and why I thought we were having a boy. Well, I was right! Our 20 week ultrasound proved it once and for all and it was very clear that a little boy is coming our way this April. Since then we have been thinking about names, nursery ideas, what he will look like, what he will be in to and most of all how excited we are to meet him.

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Baby Holguin - 18 weeks

Week 17 was SO uncomfortable. The only way to describe it would be to say that it felt like I had just experienced the craziest ab and oblique workout ever. Every muscle in my abdomen ached for 3 days straight. They hurt when I walked, twisted, stood up and basically made any move in general. The only good part was that I had a great excuse to sit on the couch and watch the entire Twilight saga and demand things from Andrew because, well I needed to "rest".

Little did I know that this period of stretching and aching was the foreshadow of what was to come - my belly!! It literally popped out during week 18. Baby Holguin was working hard to make room and the work definitely paid off.

What we've learned: Our baby is a little over 6 inches long. SIX inches! And that doesn't even include the little legs. Right now baby is growing about half an inch per week so by 20 weeks he or she will be about 7.5 inches long. The baby weighs 5 1/2 ounces now and the genitalia, whether boy or girl, is mostly formed.

Cravings: Orange juice. All day, every day. I drank almost a half gallon in one day, I just can't get enough!

Daddy duty: After week 16, I can't lay on my back because the weight of my abdomen on the uterus can cut off the blood flow to the baby. It's especially difficult at night because I love sleeping on my back. Andrew has taken on the duty of monitoring my sleeping positions and he'll wake me up to remind me to turn on my side. It's really great because I'm a deep sleeper so I won't wake up on my own.

My crazy dreams: I dreamed that I went in to labor and rushed to the hospital to have the baby. Somehow I fell asleep during labor and woke up with the baby already in my arms. The nurses were congratulating me but I keep thinking, how did I fall asleep?? I wanted to be awake for the birth!!  I was so upset in the dream that I almost didn't believe it was my baby because I hadn't witnessed anything. Everyone was oohing and aahing at the baby and saying how well I did but I kept saying, "I wasn't awake!! Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

Nursery updates: I finally cleaned out our second bedroom and made space for all the cute baby stuff we'll be getting. It's such a relief to get that part done and over with and know that we are at least somewhat prepared for whats to come.
If we have a boy, I'm leaning towards a pear green color scheme for the nursery with rustic reds and eggshell blues.

If it's a girl, I would like the nursery colors to be deep purples complimented by soft lilacs and cream. 

Doc updates: We had a 16 week ultrasound a couple weeks ago and it was so awesome so see our little baby moving around and going crazy in my belly. The weirdest part is that I can't feel a thing! The baby looked healthy and normal; it had two arms, two legs, a spinal cord, a stomach, a big ole head and a really strong heartbeat. The heart rate was at 144 bpm and it's so reassuring to know that everything is growing as normal.
We have our 20 week ultrasound on December 7th and hopefully at that point we will be able to find out the gender. We've been looking forward to this appointment for a number of weeks and we will be so excited to announce it to everyone. Pin It