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Make a MERRY Christmas Garland

ByJennifer
26 Comments
I had so many questions about how I made my banner for 3 French Hens, That I thought I would show you by doing a really cute, holiday merry  banner project, it’s a super easy craft to DIY too. This tutorial has the letters as free printables below to many your easy paper Christmas garland. It’s fun to make your own Christmas decorations and an inexpensive way to decorate a faux fireplace mantel or stairway railing.
Free printable merry banner on a faux fireplace

Supplies to make your free printable Christmas merry banner

White cardstock.
Grommets ( craft eyelets)
Grommet Tool
Scissors
Paper edge punch
Hole punch
Twine or ribbon
Start by printing your letters printed on your printer white card stock  on your home printer or have them printed at your local printer. (The templates are at the end of the post.). Regular printer paper is too thin to use for a banner and won’t hold up.
Supplies to make a merry banner with eyelets, eyelet tool and printed cardstock
 These little buggers are officially called eyelets. I want to call them grommets. You can find the brass ones at Micheal’s. But I know Joann’s and Hobby Lobby also carry the gold and silver and in the scrap booking section I’ve seen multi-colored and shapes. Go crazy! 🙂
Metal eyelets for crafting
They also carry the grommet-squeezer thing. I don’t know the official name for it. If you don’t have eyelets you can skip this step, the paper might be more likely to tear.
scissors and the letter M
 After printing your letters to size, trim them till you have about an inch around each letter.  Sometimes it helps to line up all of the letters and trim them at the same time as long as the paper isn’t too thick.
craft edge punch
 Punch with your shape puncher around the edges. I bought mine at Joann’s with a 40% off coupon.  I think it’s by EK.  I like this one because you can line up your previous punches. I found out that if you also sign up your husband at Joann’s, you get two coupons in the mail each month.
punched paper edge

Dress up the edges of you Merry Christmas Banner with a paper trimmer edge punch

Punch all the way around. If you get  a funky edge like this, no sweat, just give it a little trim; no one will notice.  Punch your holes in about the same place on each letter sheet.
Creating a hole punch in paper
 Once your hole is punched in the  top of the cardstock, it’s time to do your eyelets. Place one in the hole and then like up your tool.
adding an eyelet to a punched hole with a hand holding it
Place an eyelet in the hole with the front and the back place on each side and then like up your tool to squeeze both sides together.
making a reinforced hole using a grommet eyelet tool
Press  the tool firmly together like a hole punch.
Grommets in paper holes
And viola! You have eyelet magic! I will tell you, one you figure it out, it is addicting!
Letter r for a banner with grommets
Once all of your free Christmas printables letters are punched, then you are ready to add your twine, or ribbon.
stringing a hole through a grommet to make a banner
 String it through the last card first, into the first hole and then behind to come out the other hole, so that your string is behind the letter. Do the same thing for each letter.
The R in a Merry Christnas garland DIY paper craft for Christmas with free printable
 Once they are all strung, tie a loop in each end, and hang! If you wanted you could totally use a little glue and glitter it up and make it sparkly and full of Christmas cheer! Hang it on your faux fireplace with fresh evergreen grennery and ornaments. You could even use yarn to create a boho syyle banner to accent the Merry garland. Of course always keep out of reach of children and pets since the twine is a strangulation hazard and I have mine hung over a non-functioning fireplace mantel.
Christmas banner letter M
And you have  a cute Merry, banner!  My letters all measure about  4-5 inches across, but you can make them any size you like. It would be a fun idea to make smaller versions of this to dress up gift packages or on a Christmas tree.
Free printable merry banner on a faux fireplace
Happy garland making! To grab these images just save to your computer as a PDF file or a  JPG. If you like making your own holiday decorations, see how to make glittered vintage ice skates.

Holiday decorating ideas

diy-holiday-wall-art-decorations by paper and stitch

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26 Comments

  2. Jen –

    That looks awesome(!) and it is already on your new fireplace. Thanks for the detailed lesson. I think even I could do this project.

    Merry to you back.

    Connie LOU

  23. Thank you so much for sharing! Went right away and made one of these…so sweet and easy and everyone loves it! One quick question….the letters that you have for downloading and printing…are there other letters of the same design we can find? Would make a cute birthday banner also:) Thanks again!!~~Blessings~~Shine

  24. I love the Merry Banner and want to make for our school christmas card. Do you know the name of the font that was used? I would like to add “Christmas” to the banner.

  25. Pingback: Make a Merry Christmas banner! - Jennifer Rizzo

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