How to Make a Festive Christmas Banner with Die Cut Letters

Okay you guys. Today's crafty goodness. 

It's a darn cute one. 

(If I do say so myself...) 

And it's a darn simple one. 

So would you mind, for a moment if we pause to talk about the REAL showstopper here? 

It's not the Ho Ho Ho garland. 

(Although it IS cute. And simple. And we'll get to that.) 

And it's not the Willow Tree nativity which is the first holiday decoration to go up, and the last to be put away each year.

No. 

It's THIS PIANO.

Do I play the piano? 

No, no I do not. 

But do I LOVE this piano? 

Well, yes. Yes I DO.

This piano has been in my parents' house for as long as I can remember. Prior to that, it lived in the restaurant my dad owned when I was a little girl. And before that, it belonged to the restaurant's previous owner - who used this piano during his time as a Vaudeville performer. WHAT? So much history in this sweet old piano. I love every single scrape and blemish, and there's no way I'm repainting it. It hasn't been tuned in about a million years, (but we've already covered the fact that I don't play the piano, so I wouldn't know if it was in tune or not.) 

Okay. Thank you for indulging me as I ramble about my piano. I wasn't expecting it to come live at my house when we went home for Thanksgiving. But somehow my parents tricked us into taking it....parents are sneaky like that. But I'm thrilled to have it here now. (And it's RED! HELLO.) 

Plus, bonus - my nativity looks amazing on top - AND I had a darling place to display today's super fun and simple craft! (See, I told you we'd get back around to that.) 

To make this banner, I used FSJ's Alpha Bold Steel Rule Die. This die set is AMAZING to have in my stash. We've used it for banners, and Science Fair projects, to make personalized gift tags - all kinds of things. The set comes with three platforms to accommodate the whole alphabet. (These are the thick dies, like what teachers use at school for bulletin boards!) 

Here are the simple steps to make a HO HO HO garland: 

• First, trim red and green cardstock into pieces about 3x3.5 in. Lay them just onto the letters you want to diecut, (in this case, H and O) and run through the die cutting machine. TIP: You can die cut quite a few layers of cardstock all at once, which makes this really fast! These steel rule dies are POWERFUL! 
• Adhere each H and O pair together using one or two small foam adhesive squares. 
• Punch a hole in the top corner of each H and O and then string together onto twine. TIP: You could easily add a die cut star or heart in between each, but I forced myself to keep this REALLY simple! 
• Find a fun place to display your darling creation! Easy peasy! 

Alright friends. If you've made it through this blog post, kudos to YOU. Your prize, should you choose to accept it is this...

Today and today ONLY all of FSJ's steel rule dies are 50% off. 5-0. Fifty. FIFTY. That is an AWESOME deal. This alphabet die set is an investment, but it's 50% less of an investment today! And you might just find you use it for all KINDS of things! (I hope a cutie patootie Ho Ho Ho banner is project number 1!) 

Every day this week FSJ and Spellbinders each have an awesome Daily Deal that you won't want to miss. So tell me...what will YOU create with this Alpha Bold Steel Rule Die? And what other steel rule dies do you have your heart set on? You can find all the steel rule dies in the FSJ shop! 

Happy shopping my friends! (I am truly sorry to enable you...but I would be remiss to not have shared this great deal with you!!!!) ;) xoxo