Happy Birthday Bunting Flag Banner

My fun sister-in-law Erin had told me that she wanted a Happy Birthday banner to hang above her fireplace. I decided that for her birthday I would get her one. I looked on Pinterest and Etsy but I just couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. So, I decided to make one myself. I was really happy with how it turned out and I have actually made a few more since then. I posted them for sale on Etsy and I've made a few custom made ones as well. Here is the link to buy them. If you would like a custom one let me know. I would love to do it. Here is a custom one I made for someone. It turned out really cute. Sorry for the dark pictures. I wanted to get a picture before I shipped it but the lighting in our apartment was terrible.

To start, I used this template from Sweetly Scrapped Art. Then, I used a bold, size 300 font with the letters spelling "Happy Birthday."

The letters become the stencils. I first traced the letters onto the fabric I wanted and cut them out.


Then I sewed the letters onto the center of the triangles.

After I sewed the letters on, I cut two strings of jute. The "Happy banner should be on about 104" of jute. I folded each triangle over the jute and sewed underneath the jute. This makes each flag lay perfectly in place but still  movable on the string. The "Birthday" banner will be longer than the "Happy" banner by about  10-15." I forgot to take an exact measurement.  I then Tied a knot in the top of the two strings to hang them by. I leave an extra foot on each end to hang down because I think it looks cute. You could make your strings shorter and leave that part off. It depends on the look you are going for.

This is the one I  made for my sister in law. I figured it would work for my nieces and nephews birthdays.

Anyway, I hope this is pretty simple for you guys. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope this tutorial was simple enough.  I'd love to see the banners you make. 

Spinach Strawberry Vinaigrettte Salad

I love gardening. I get so excited to see things grow. Since Tyrone and I have lived in an apartment since we've been married it has been hard to grow stuff. We were able to grow a few things at our old apartment but not much. Luckily when we moved to our new place in December we now have a small patio area. We've had multiple tomatoes that we've eaten off our tomato plant. I personally don't like tomatoes but my husband and the little one have loved them. Our little guy ate one of the tomatoes like an apple. It was really cute.

 I also planted cilantro and basil, both of which taste and smell delicious. I just recently bought a strawberry Topsy Turvy since our patio has hooks overhead to hang plants. We got our first ripe strawberry and I shared it with our little guy. It was delicious.

We ate it directly off the plant. It tastes better that way.

 Hopefully we get some more! He LOVES any kind of berries. Another plant that I've loved having is lettuce. It is really fun to go outside and get some lettuce for a salad. It feels so healthy and fresh! Recently I came across this salad dressing recipe and I have made this salad 4 times now. I originally found this dressing recipe because I was looking for a recipe that didn't have sugar in it. I had invited or friends over for dinner one night and they were on the whole 30 diet so I wanted to make sure that they could eat everything we were having. I found the recipe at Food.com

Ingredients:

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

 

I like to put all of the ingredients into a mason jar. Then, I put the lid on and shake it up. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

I usually make this salad with spinach and strawberries but I didn't have any spinach tonight so I made it with the lettuce from my garden. It's yummy both ways but I like it best with spinach.