Photo Bunting

This week's Keepsake post was so much fun, and I'm excited to share it with you all.  I came up with this one while we were wandering around Paris.  One downside to travelling is, you can't bring your sewing machine with you...  I would have loved to complete this project as soon as I had the idea.  So you can bet I was thrilled to be able to finally get down to it with this DIY.

We are not ones to display many personal and family photos around our house.  I always get tripped up when trying to arrange small frames on household surfaces.  Don't get me wrong, I love looking at family photos, I just have not figured out a way to integrate them.  Until now! 

Instead of framing some of the nicer photos from our trip, I decided I would make a bunting banner that I could create in the style and colour scheme that I thought would best suit our decor.  And that is what I'm going to show you how to do today.  This project would also work well for weddings, showers, nurseries, really the possibilities are endless... 

If you would like to make one yourself, here are the basic materials you will need:

*Ribbon, ric-rac, rope, or bias tape
*Pins
*Iron on transfer paper
*Photos that are already on your computer or can be scanned on the computer
*Sewing Machine

The first step is to chose your photos and print them out on iron on transfer paper.  You can get this at local crafty supply and office supply stores.   Remember that if you have any text in your photo, to chose your printer settings so that the image prints out as a mirror image.

Try and fit as many pictures on a page as possible.  I re sized my pictures before printing them to make sure they would all fit on the same size piece of material.  I used both horizontal and vertical pictures. 

Next, cut out your pictures and your fabric to get ready for ironing....

The fun part!  Iron on your pictures to your fabric.  Make sure to leave room on the top to sew onto your ribbon.  You don't want your image to get covered or cut off when you go to sew.

Finally, arrange all your photo fabric and add any other items to the ribbon.  I chose to do my bunting in a sort of shabby chic motif with doilies and a burlap ribbon to hang everything from.  I also kept the edges of my fabric raw for an extra rustic feel.  Once everything is pinned in place, sew it together and voila! You're done.

There are still two more posts in the Keepsake series, so hope you come back next week to see the next one. And have fun making your very own photo bunting!