Two It Yourself: DIY Valentine's Day Subway Art Banner

Have you been decorating for Valentine's Day? I have a few pops of red and pink around the house and earlier this week I added this cute little DIY Valentine's Day subway art banner. It didn't take me long to make since I used my Silhouette to cut a subway art freezer paper stencil (for the tutorial and designs I used, head over to Silhouette School). If you don't have a Silhouette cutting machine you can always make the banner with a few different Valentine's-themed stamps, by cutting your own stencil by creating the design in Powerpoint and then cutting it out using an exact knife, or buy purchasing some heavy paper or plastic stencils.

However, you make your design, that's the fun and creative part. But before we get to that let's talk about the actual banner. I posted a sneak peek of this on Facebook a few days ago and someone asked where I got the scroll. The answer is - I made it using a small piece of dropcloth and a dowel.

My flag is about 12" x 10". To make the same size, you'll want to cut a piece of drop cloth 15" x 11". Fold the two sides and the bottom over half an inch each and press with a hot iron. Sew a straight stitch across these three sides.

For the top of the banner, fold down the raw edge about two inches to form a pocket for the dowel. Sew across to create the pocket.

Now it's time to add the design so grab the stencil you made (or stamp) and some paint. If you made a freezer paper stencil, like I did, iron it on. If you have a plastic or paper stencil tape it firmly into place.

Use foam pouncers to add the paint. I always recommend using foam pouncers in an up and down motion to avoid having the paint bleed under the stencil. When you're done painting the stencil carefully lift it off the banner. Let the paint dry.

Cut down a dowel so it's between 12 and 13". Slide it through the pocket you created in the top of the banner. It should poke out from each side of the banner so you can tie a piece of jute or ribbon on each end to hang the banner.