Vintage Halloween Garland / Banner

I am so jealous of anyone who has a fireplace mantle. You name the holiday, and I see so many cute ideas for decorating a mantle with some sort of garland or banner.


All I have is a big ugly wall with 2 uglier mirrors and 2 windows above the loveseat. Sadly, those windows are directly across from where I sit. I really hate them. I wish it were a mantle. And now I'm wondering how feasible it would be to put a shelf above those windows, but I digress.


Back to the subject at hand. So I am sitting here looking at those windows thinking about Christmas (of all things) and how much I like it because then I will be able to hang my garland and bows and wreaths from that window and have something to look at. hmmmmm something to look at. And it came to me. I will make my OWN garland- a halloween one!


I love vintage cards and postcards. They are so cool. but I haven't really gotten into the decoupage thing (yet, give me time and some mod podge). So I turn to google and search images for 'Vintage Halloween'. and oh, what treats I found! I downloaded about 15 images and printed them out. I printed them so they were approximately 4x6 (I really love windows 7 by the way, it does it for me! hehehe). I then cut them out on 3 sides with craft scissors (FYI- I can't find my regular scissors at the moment). I left the top portion uncut, so I could use it to fold over the twine that I am using for the banner.

I then took my roll of twine and climbed up to the aforementioned ugly window, and measured it out, I went ahead and made my loops where I needed them to hang off the hooks (this way, I didn't have to worry about gluing a card right where I needed to hang the banner). I folded each picture and placed craft glue on the folded seam and 'tab' (for reference, I am calling the folded part the 'tab'). The 'tab' is about 2" (estimate). I placed it on the twine so that the twine was on the seam, and glued it all down without trimming it

I did one, then would glue it to the twine. I would then do the next. I spaced them about an inch or so apart. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. Even if its NOT on a mantle!

Stuff you need:


Twine (on hand or $1)
Images (on hand via internet and printer)
Glue (on hand)


Cost: FREE (or $1)