Halloween Boo Garland With Free Clip-Art Letters
Adorable crafty banners are everywhere this Halloween, draped across mantles, skirting tables and strung across fences. Instead of purchasing letters or fiddling with tracing around water glasses, I created letters with circle templates on the computer. They worked so well, I decided to post them here for everyone to use. Now you, too, can easily print, cut, and tape your way to a fun or spooky Halloween message in about an hour.
Supplies
All you need, besides a computer, printer and my downloadable letters is:
A. Scalloped scissors (optional)
B. Regular scissors
C. Hole punch (preferably a rectangular punch)
D. Double-sided tape
E. Medium ric-rack long enough to hold all of the letters in your message
F. Heavy black and white paper (preferably card stock)
Download and Unpack The Letters
Before you begin, you will need the letter templates I've created. To download, right click the link below and select "Save Target As..." and save the file on your computer. Make sure you remember where you save it.
Once you have saved the file on your computer, open it up and copy all of the letters from inside the file to a file folder on your computer. There is one file for every letter and symbol.
Select Letters
Now you will need to create a word processing file with the letters you need. Open a word processing program such as Microsoft Word and create a new document. In that document, insert a copy of each letter you need. In Microsoft Word, you would do this by clicking Insert -> Picture -> From File and selecting the letter file you need. Include a copy of every single letter needed. For example, if you are creating a banner that says "BOO" you will need one "B" and TWO "O" templates. To get the most letters on a page, you will need to set your margins to the smallest possible setting. How small will depend on your printer. I could set mine to .15", which allowed me to have two letters side-by-side on an 8 1/2" x 11" paper.
Print
Print the letters on a heavy paper or cardstock, then cut into manageable sizes.
Construction
1. Cut around one of the letters with regular scissors.
2. Use this to trace onto the back of the black paper. Make a circle tracing for each letter in your banner.
3. Cut out the black background circles with the scalloped scissors if you have them. If you don't, plain round circles cut with regular scissors will work as well. Cut a little wider than the traced line to make the border.
4. Cut the letter circles out with scalloped scissors, if available, or regular scissors if not. Cut slightly inside the line so that none of the line will remain on the circle.
5. Place two or three peices of double-sided tape on the back of each of the letter circles...
6. Stick each white letter circle to the front of each of the black circles, taking care to center the letter circle to make an even border.
7. Next you will need the hole punch. Your banner will hang straighter if the ric-rack stays flat when threaded through these holes, so if you have one available, use a small rectangular punch that's slightly larger than the size of the ric-rack. Punch two holes at the top of the letter with a small space in between.
8. Thread the ric-rack through the two holes.
9. Voila! One letter threaded. Now thread the rest and you'll have a charming, crafty banner for your Halloween decorating!
Let me know if you try this or if you have any questions about using the letters. I hope you enjoy it!
Comments (22)
Very cute! I used a similar template from allsorts for my Boo! banner. Theres a photo on my blog if you'd like to take a look. Love the ric-rack!
Posted by Michelle | October 31, 2007 9:06 AM
Posted on October 31, 2007 09:06
Now that was terrific! Thank you for sharing this with us. You make it look so easy!
Posted by Nicole | October 31, 2007 10:13 AM
Posted on October 31, 2007 10:13
Oh! Last year's "Boo" banner is on our porch where it did not fare so well. The lettering has come unglued from its backside and I must now go attempt to reattach curling cutouts! Flapping letters aren't that scary!
Happy Halloween!! :D
Posted by Wende | October 31, 2007 1:24 PM
Posted on October 31, 2007 13:24
I love this banner. I swear I'm going to do little holiday touches like this in the near future. It looks great. I especially love the graphic look that the black and white give to it.
Posted by Angelina | November 1, 2007 8:33 AM
Posted on November 1, 2007 08:33
Fantastic! You are too generous. I know I'm too late for this Halloween but I'm sure I can find a use for these before next October!
Posted by Jen | November 1, 2007 9:45 AM
Posted on November 1, 2007 09:45
Adorable!!! I love your blog!
Posted by Julie Size | November 1, 2007 10:56 AM
Posted on November 1, 2007 10:56
Thanks for sharing this adorable banner!! happy be-lated Halloween-Love your blog!
Posted by chris | November 1, 2007 3:53 PM
Posted on November 1, 2007 15:53
Gorgeous Halloween stuff, wish I had found you earlier!
Posted by cd&m | November 2, 2007 8:35 AM
Posted on November 2, 2007 08:35
Great idea and great explanations on how to go about making your own Halloween banners. Now there's only 1 problem left; we don't celebrate Halloween in my country. ;-)
Posted by yolanda elizabet | November 2, 2007 10:48 AM
Posted on November 2, 2007 10:48
So glad we found your blog....your tutorials are FABULOUS....love the banner and all your pumpkins!
smiles, kari and kijsa
Posted by kari and kijsa | November 2, 2007 11:16 AM
Posted on November 2, 2007 11:16
This os so generous of you...to take the time to do all of that??!! I am going to do this and put it away as a surprise for myself next Halloween.
Thanks Angela!!
Linda
Posted by linda | November 6, 2007 12:02 PM
Posted on November 6, 2007 12:02
Adorable! Love it!
xo,
Kim
Posted by Daisy Cottage | November 6, 2007 3:11 PM
Posted on November 6, 2007 15:11
I really did enjoy everything! Thank you so much!
Posted by Mary Smither | January 5, 2008 12:22 PM
Posted on January 5, 2008 12:22
Hi Angela,
I happened by your website "Cottage Magpie" and love it! It's charming and wonderful. I am so glad I was searching for "holiday craft ideas" on Google or I might not have seen it.
I got away from decorating and crafting this summer, only to decide to make chocolate treat gift baskets for Christmas that seemed to have went over well with my recipients. I was so happy that now I am just chomping at the bit for more holiday crafting ideas for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since I am getting back into decorating as well, I love your site for the ideas and it's a beautiful site as well, very well done. I live in a trailer, not a big home, but it's still home so I want it to look nice, cozy, stylish and me. This is helpful.
Thank you for your great website, I have put it in my favorites so I can visit often.
Betsy Jorgensen
Marshall, WI
Posted by Betsy Jorgensen | January 8, 2008 11:51 AM
Posted on January 8, 2008 11:51
Thank you for posting these really great directions with such close up photos. I'll be trying this out next Halloween for sure!!
Michele
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Posted by Michele | May 31, 2008 3:23 AM
Posted on May 31, 2008 03:23
I just saw this on Deb's blog, how cute! I think I just might have to make this one!!!
Nice to meet you,
Bella
Posted by Bella | August 19, 2008 12:23 PM
Posted on August 19, 2008 12:23
This is great! Thanks so much for sharing and for the wonderful tutorial!
Posted by Erin | September 12, 2008 9:20 PM
Posted on September 12, 2008 21:20
First of all, no idea how I missed this post. It must be buried in my reader somewhere. :(
Second, what fun! We made scrapbook paper and ribbon banners. Much, um, more ghetto than yours :)
LOVE IT!
Posted by Emily | October 24, 2008 12:36 PM
Posted on October 24, 2008 12:36
Very cool banner! I like the rickrack holding the letters in place. Thank you for sharing the letters. Here's what I did with mine.
http://techmom236.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/spooky-cds/
Posted by Mary | October 26, 2008 12:14 PM
Posted on October 26, 2008 12:14
Great tutorial. I'm not much for Halloween decorating but this idea is easy to adapt.
Lorrie
Posted by Lorrie | October 27, 2008 8:56 AM
Posted on October 27, 2008 08:56
TOO CUTE! Love this....can't wait to make it. Thanks for the great instructions!!
Posted by Tara B. | October 27, 2008 1:12 PM
Posted on October 27, 2008 13:12
Thanks for the tip and share.
Hug
Posted by Roseny Crisp | October 29, 2008 10:50 AM
Posted on October 29, 2008 10:50