DIY: Give Thanks Banner

These days I can't peruse Pinterest without discovering my next Fall craft to start on.  I do have a Pinterest confession- Fall is my favorite time of year and no matter how many crafts/decorations I make/buy, I will never have enough! Our house is filled with pumpkins, Autumn yankee candles, and now something special that I made a few weeks ago.

We have one fireplace in the entire house and unfortunately for me and my husband, it's in the Man Cave.  Luckily, Danny let me decorate it in the name of holiday cheer, so I started pinning banner ideas on Pinterest.

I came across a few ideas, but my mind was made up once I started browsing JoAnns' collection.

I found amazing burlap pumpkin cutouts on SALE and I knew I had to incorporate them into my Give Thanks Banner. I also saw an amazing idea on Pinterest which incorporates glitter and faux leaves (shown below).

Here's what I did:

Supplies:

-10 Pumpkin burlap cutouts
-1 bag of faux leaves
-Different colors of glitter (I found an amazing set at JoAnns labeled, "Autumn glitter")
-Adhesive spray
-Orange spray paint
-Brown paint
-brown ribbon
-twine

Step 1: Glitterring the leaves.

First I took the faux leaves and sprayed them with the adhesive spray.  Then I took two bowls and sprinkled glitter from one bowl to another until the entrie front side of the leaf was covered.  Then, I set it aside to dry.  Repeat these steps until you have covered all of the leaves needed for the project.  I used the entire bag (30 leaves) and I am hoping to incorporate them in another craft.  This craft only needed 14 leaves.

Note:  Don't be worried if the different colors of glitter tend to run together after awhile in your bowls.  That is one of the amazing things about the season, no two leaves are exactly alike in color.  Feel free to mix in a variety of oranges, reds, browns, yellows, etc.  I really liked the way each leaf was different.

Step 2:  Paint the pumpkins.

Even though I didn't know how to stencil these pumpkins in the beginning, it all worked out in the end.  Here's what I did.  I put sticker letters that I had leftover from another craft on each pumpkin and then spray painted them in orange.  After letting it dry for about 15 minutes, I pulled away the letters which left me with a great outline to trace the letters with a darker color.  I used a brownish green color to fill in the letters on each pumpkin.

Step 3: Assemble the banner.

I had some leftover twine laying around which made a good base.  I then decided to start tying the letters to the twine tightly with brown ribbon, so they didn't move on the twine.  After the letters were in place, I cut pieces of long brown ribbon and attached different leaves to it in different patterns.  I put some leaves upside down, or sideways to resemble leaves falling.  I created 5 of these strings of leaves and then attached them to the banner to create the look.  Because the leaves were very light, they were able to delicately float in the air, or at least that's what it looks like.

I am very happy with the way this Give Thanks Banner turned out and it is the perfect addition to the Man Cave fireplace.