Drop Cloth Party Banners

This weekend marked the end of our summer holidays, since my daughter goes back to school on Tuesday, and we had the best weekend!  We hosted a neighbourhood block party (which was a huge success- stay tuned for a post about that!) and followed it up with a backyard “drive in” movie.  It was amazing!

To add a little “pretty” to the party, I made these fabulous (and reusable) drop cloth party banners.  I usually make my party banners out of paper, but we were hoping to turn this into a yearly event, so I thought let’s make banners that we can use every year.  It was also one of the only decor items, as we really wanted to keep it very relaxed.

Wanna make your own drop cloth party banners that you can use over and over?  Here’s how:

You will need:

• a selection of Deco-Art multi surface paint – I used coffee bean, eggplant, lemon zest, leprechaun, flamingo, pumpkin patch, and turquoise waters. (You can find these at Michaels, A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby, among other fine craft retailers – see below for a rebate coupon.)
• 5″ stencil font alphabet stencil (also from DecoArt)
• a foam paint brush
• drop cloth (I used a full width strip that was a foot in height)
• bunting template
• twine
• scissors
• hole punch
• polka dot shaped “stamps” – I used circle cookie cutters and bubble lids

To start, trace your bunting template on the drop cloth and cut each piece out. (If you need a template, take a piece of computer paper, fold in half horizontally, and use a ruler to create a diagonal line from the top corner to the bottom corner and cut along that line.)

Using your stencil and foam brush, dab a little paint around the edges of the stencil.  Don’t use too much paint or it will bleed under your stencil.  However, if you look at my image, these stencils are really good at controlling the bleed.  I dabbed around the edges of the stencil, and then removed the stencil to paint the inside because drop cloth is not the easiest thing to paint.  The texture doesn’t allow the paint to glide smoothly, so even though it’s not difficult, it is a little challenging to hold a stencil still while you paint it all.  That’s why I found this method the best. However, I loved the uneven, almost rustic and weathered look that the texture gave the paint.

After I finished the letters, I used a cookie cutter to make polka dot rings on the bunting with the colored paints.  I used the bubbles to paint a center on the polka dots – by using a stamping method, it also created that uneven, weathered look to the polka dots that I was going for.

Once everything was dry, I hold punched the corners and tied them together with jute twine.  However, the photo shows the holes too close to the edge.  After I hung them, some of the twine tore through the drop cloth, so make sure to  put them back 3/4-1″ from the corners.

Then all that was left to do was hang them up and admire the beauty!  I made one for the food area and one for the games area.

I also created this big banner (which I whipped together about 2 hours before the party so it’s not perfect but I love how it turned out!) that we can use year after year.  I think next year, I’m also going to make some drop cloth table cloths with the same polka dot design on them that we can reuse. I love how bright and vibrant this line of paint is – even though the drop cloth isn’t a pure white!

It was a great weekend, and I can’t wait to share more of the details with you!

Now, as promised, here’s the rebate coupon for the DecoArt Multi Surface paint – now you can grab all of your favorite colors at a great price: