My baby turned one in March and we knew we needed to make something really special to help commemorate the event. So I looked back over all the pictures from his first year, took 13 images and turned them into an easy photo banner to hang up at his birthday party, and boy was it a hit!
This is something that you can make today, in about 30 minutes!
A year ago I was staring at my sweet newborn baby and thinking that a year was such a long time... it wasn't.
Time flew by whether I wanted it to or not and before I could believe it, I was sitting at the dinner table with my friends and family as we celebrated a year with our wonderful little boy.
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As I prepared for this project, I went through a million photos finding just the right ones and maybe shedding a tear or two as I remembered just how tiny he was. At only 4lbs. 15oz. he was too small even for preemie outfits.
I remember the prayers that we laid on him as we were unsure about his tiny body.
I remember worrying that I would break him as we bathed him or changed his little bitty diapers.
I remember the joy I felt as he moved up to 0-3 month clothing!
All those memories and more are so precious to me, and it was terribly difficult to pick just a few images to represent those moments!
In the end, I chose 13 photos; 1 for the day he was born, and then 1 for every month 1-12.
Easy Photo Banner Instructions
Here are the direction to make your own photo banner. This is a great project for any occasion!
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Materials needed:
1/4 yard Cream Canvas
3 yards Ribbon of your choice
5 sheets of Cardstock
Scissors
Sewing Machine
Thread - Colors of your choice
1. Print one copy of the template and cut out the design. Then place the template on your canvas and cut 13 banner pieces.
Grab the Banner Template at the End of the Post!
2. Choose 13 images (if you can!). Once you have chosen your images, print them in black and white onto cardstock. I chose 4x6 format, but if you needed to make the overall banner smaller, you could make the images 3x5 and trim the canvas template accordingly.
3. After the images are printed and cut to size, place them on the canvas. Be careful to leave enough room at the top to accommodate your ribbon!
4. Take a spare bit of canvas and cardstock, and use your sewing machine to run a zig sag stitch around the edge of the picture. We stitched half on, half off of the image. Once you know that your machine is humming along, it's time to move to the real thing!
5. Take each photo, leaving enough room for your ribbon at the top, and sew them to the canvas.
Note: Our stitch color for the photos was red, but you can use whatever color thread you would like!
6. Once all the photos are attached, line them up in the order you want them displayed.
7. Take the left most banner piece and leave 8 inches of ribbon on the left side of that piece. Sew the ribbon down with a larger zig zag stitch, leaving some room at the top (optional).
Note: We used navy and white dotted ribbon, so our thread color was navy. You can choose any color you want!
Continue sewing across the banner and over 2 inches of ribbon (with nothing behind it) and then place the next banner piece.
Continue until banner is complete!
Mimi from Brocante Home says
What a wonderful idea, I love your banner! I was thinking of making a paper version for my little girl’s second birthday, but I love the permanence of this.
As keepers of our families memories, it can sometimes be hard to think of new ways to preserve memories, but this is just lovely.
Victoria says
Thank you! I love that it’s something we can actually keep for a while… we currently have it hanging across the doorway into the living room <3
Enjoy!