DIY Tutorial From A Catch My Party Member: How to Make a Ribbon Covered Letter or Number

May

DIY Tutorial From A Catch My Party Member: How to Make a Ribbon Covered Letter or Number

Stacy H threw such a fun, colorful party for her daughter's first birthday. Even the name of the party was cute... Baby P's Polka Dotty Pool Party.

Stacy made lots of the decorations herself, including this adorable ribbon covered number "1." (With a blog called She's {Kinda} Crafty you'd expect nothing less.) I asked Stacy if she'd put together a tutorial on how she made it, and she so generously said yes. Hooray! Here it is...

Supplies:

Paper Mache letter or number
6 or more coordinating scrapbook ribbons (3/8")
Long length of a coordinating 1" ribbon
Fast drying glue or other adhesive (I LOVE Beacon 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue)
Scissors
Patterned Paper & Frame (optional)

Loosely measure the length of ribbon you need to wrap around your number or letter (leave enough to wrap around to the back). Depending on your number or letter you can pre-cut your strips of ribbon.

I only pre-cut enough for the "stems" of the R and the rest I cut as I went, loosely measuring each length one at a time. Apply one line of glue at a time and lay your ribbons down in whatever pattern you'd like (or go crazy and don't use a pattern!)

You could go ahead and glue ALL your ribbon on to your number or letter before flipping it over and gluing the ends to the back.

I stopped when I had reached a point where my pre-measured strips were all used up. Apply a bead of glue to the back edges of your number or letter and wrap the ribbon around.

You may need to hold the ribbon while the glue sets to keep everything straight.

Repeat on other side of number or letter.

Keep on going until your letter or number is completely covered.

Starting in a corner, apply a bead of glue about 1/4" from the top edge of your number or letter (I did about 8-10 linear inches at a time since I was using fast drying glue).

Continue this around your number or letter until you've gotten back to the beginning, overlapping about a 1/2" at the end. It doesn't matter what the back looks like!

Viola! You are done!

You can also mount the number to a frame by cutting a piece of patterned paper to the size of your frame (this one is 8x10), removing the glass of your frame, insert the paper and close the frame up. Then add a whole bunch of glue to the back of your number or letter and stick it right on the patterned paper!

Don't worry about having to buy a new frame, just take one out of your house because after your party you can just take the paper & number out & pop the glass back into your frame! (However, I did buy this frame at Target for about $4.)

Such a fun project! Thank you again, Stacy for putting this together. To learn more about Stacy and see all the crafts she makes, please check out her blog, She's {Kinda} Crafty. Also, take a look at the rest of her pool party photos. So much cuteness!

If you make a ribbon covered letter or number for your next party, please send photos to jillian@catchmyparty.com, I'd love to post it.

Comments

Marie B says...

@ 09:03 on Mar 09, 2013

I absolutely love this idea. I came across the picture on Pinterest. I am going to make this for my dd 1st Bday. I plan to take a picture of the frame and use it as the cover of her invitations and then Thank You cards. I am not sure what the theme will be. I adore polka dots, but used them for my 2yrs old babyshower (i do not want to repeat as if I am not creative enough to come up with a new theme). With that being said, I am heading to the craft store in search of a fun pattern or color and will run with it. Maybe I can throw in a few polka dots here and there :)