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Before we start this tutorial, I want to warn everyone that this will probably cause your whole house to be covered in glitter (unless you are a lot cleaner than I am, which is completely possible). My friend told me about this awesome product that cleans up glitter easily. For your convenience I have linked it here.

Now, onto the tutorial! I know that there are better ways to make a glitter banner, there is such thing as glitter cardstock, but it’s a little spendy, especially when you are making five banners. Feel free to use glitter cardstock for this tutorial, and I will include separate directions for you. If you are trying to make this as cost-effective as possible, this seems to be the cheapest method.

I made these five banners for my sister’s bridal shower. If I were to get the banners pre-made, I would be looking at spending $12-$20 per banner. Instead, I spent about $18 for all the supplies and I have tons of leftover supplies. I chose to use cardstock instead of cardboard because cardstock is more cost-effective and the weight of the glitter seemed to keep the letters relatively flat.

Supplies Needed

Cardstock (You can realistically use any color, but I chose white). Use glitter cardstock if you choose.

Stencils (If you want to freehand your letters, that will also work, but I got stencils for uniformity)

Elmer’s Glue

Paintbrush

Scissors or a craft knife (I only used a craft knife for hard to cut places)

Glitter of your choice (I used basic big flake glitter and it worked well)

String (I used Jute twine)

Hot Glue Gun and refill glue or a hole puch if your letters are big enough.

Directions

Figure out what you want the banner to say. I made five that said various sayings for a bridal shower. Using your stencil or freehand, trace the letters onto the cardstock with enough room to cut out around the letters. I flipped the stencil upside down so that the pencil marks would show on the back. It doesn’t really matter though as the glitter will be covering the whole letter. If you are using glitter cardstock, flip the cardstock to the non-glitter side to trace your letters upside down. Cut out the letters carefully. I used the craft knife to get the insides of the letters and the scissors to get the outsides because craft knifes scare me. It definitely was faster when I was using the craft knife though. If you are using glitter cardstock, skip to step 11. If you are using a hole punch, punch a hole the top two corners of the letter. Using one letter at a time, trace the letter with glue and the use the paintbrush to paint the whole letter. Sprinkle glitter over the letter, covering its entirety, and let it sit for a few seconds. I used two plastic plates to transfer glitter into for quick glitter coverage. Recover the letter from the glitter, saving the glitter for the next letter. The letter will probably not be completely covered. It’s okay, don’t freak out. Set aside the letter to dry for a couple hours. Repeat steps 4-6 until you have gone through all your letters or, like me, you ran out of room on your dining room table. After the letters have dried, taking one letter at a time, trace the outline of the letter and use glue to fill in any big holes. Don’t worry about small gaps, there will be so much glitter and shine you won’t be able to tell when you’re done. Use the paintbrush to spread out the glue carefully. The glitter will pick up easy this time but you let it dry beforehand to make it semi-durable. Once again, cover the letter completely with glitter and let it sit for a few seconds. Recover the letter from the glitter and save the rest of the glitter. Let it sit again for a couple hours to ensure it is completely dry and durable. Once all your letters are dry, it’s time to make the actual banner. You want to make sure to give enough slack on each side of the string to hang up the banner. I measured out roughly 14″ on each side before gluing on my letters. I put some hot glue on the top corners of each letter and placed the string on top of the hot glue piles. Make sure to glue the back of the letters and make sure the saying, spelling, and letters are all backwards. I made this mistake a couple times and it was not fun to remedy. If you do mess up, make sure to cut the letter as close to the hot glue blob as you can. If you hole punched your letters, just string the letters through the string carefully. For spacing, it seems like putting the letters in each word 1″ apart and spaces between words 4″ apart was perfect to let each letter hang freely. Make sure to give slack on the other end of your banner so you can hang it up. Once again, 14″ seemed good. Hang up your banner and enjoy! After your banners are made, clean it up with the glitter cleaner and enjoy the sparkly goodness! Show me pictures of your glitter banners so we can all revel in your craftiness!