Pinterest Mom Pennant Flag DIY
How to Make a Pennant Flag for the First Day of School on a Budget
Let’s be Honest, I don’t consider myself as a “Pinterest Mom”. I want to be, I so want to be one of those moms that has every outfit picked out, their crafts and signs are put together perfectly and in the end their kids stand perfectly still and take their First Day of School pictures. I know that just sounded so negative, but trust me, I strive to be just like you. So since Finny was starting “school” this year, I wanted to make it somewhat special. And by school I mean 2 days at the local Church Preschool.
I’m sure you’ve seen the Varsity looking flags that kids hold up that look so perfect. When I googled them, they were either over $50 for it to be made and sent to me or it was a printable. If you know me, I have the best intensions, but sometimes life just get busy and in the way. So I knew I didn’t want to spend boatloads on a sign my child probably would not hold, and if I did buy a printable, it would stay in my inbox and never get printed. So the only thing that clicks in my mind is to make my own.
I got almost all of the supplies for this project from Michaels, and they were fairly easy to find. Now, if your plaining on sitting down and doing this yourself, plan for hours. This whole project took me around 3.5-4 hours to finish. It could have taken way less time if I wasn’t cutting out the letters one by one, but you know, I have to be extra!
Supplies I used:
Glue Gun - this is just a basic necessity now that I’m just a crafting machine.
Textured Foam Sheet - You can use regular foam or Felt, I liked this textured one because I felt like it looked like turf.
White Felt- I used Felt for the letters. A easier way to do the letters would be to either use stickers, a cricket, or cut them out on regular paper.
Wooden Dowels- If your little bug isn’t into holding things with one hand, you might want to put a string on it.
Thick Foam Sheet - This is just a little extra, I liked how it made the Green foam pop.
Eyebrow Scissors - I tried using regular size scissors but my eyebrow scissors that were issued to me by the Aveda Institute of Charlotte worked wonders.
I also bought card stock, and I thought I would need that as backing to give it more structure, but the foam board was thick enough to hold everything together. But I did use a piece as a guide for the rest of the project.
Steps I Took:
Go to Michaels and spend all that money honey! Just Kidding!
Cut out the size of flag that you want out of one of the pieces of Card Stock. You should probably use a ruler to make sure its symmetrical but YOLO, I freehanded it.
Once that is cut, trace that onto the background foam or felt piece. My background flag was the Green “turf” looking foam page.
Make sure you are thinking in the opposite direction, backwards is forwards, left is right and so on.
The Letters *insert horror movie theme music*. I wanted my letters to be made out of the felt fabric but I wanted to make sure you couldn’t see any marker or sharpie on the fabric. SO, I had to draw these out backwards so that the “nice” side was the side you look at. These weren’t impossible to make, they took a lot of time, but they weren’t impossible.
Cutting out the cursive words. If you want to skip any step, skip this one. Having cursive on your sign means you have to write the cursive backwards on the felt.
Glue on the letters, this is where symmetry would come in handy.
If you want a background behind the flag, I waited until the entire green portion of the flag was finished just in case.
Glue on the Dowel, every flag needs a pole! lol
Price Breakdown:
Thick Foam Sheet : $1.69
Green Textured Foam Sheet : $1.69 (I bought 2, Thank God)
White Felt Sheets : 49 ⍧ ( I bought 3, just in case)
Wooden Dowels : $3.49
Glue Gun : $25.17
Craine Eyebrow Scissors : $26.47 (already had)
Total Money Spent: $10.03
Questions:
Was it easy?
Absolutely not, but I feel like I went out of my way to choose all the hard things.
How long did it take you?
Without Shopping, around 3-4 hours.
Do I have to use foam for the background color?
No you could use Felt or any type of sheet.
Would you do it again?
I mean, I say I wouldn’t but the truth is, I would definitely do it again because it turned out so cute!
So here’s the God’s honest truth, this was one of the harder DIY’s that I have done. But it turned out so cute and I am in love with it. I honestly have been trying to think of ways to display it and I haven’t figured that out quite yet. I will say, if you’re not wanting to cut out the felt, letter by letter, there’s a ton of great foam stickers that would look great.
Now I know you are all wondering: Did Finny hold it for a picture on the morning of the First Day of School? That would be a big, fat, No. Eh, it is what it is, he’s two, I can’t expect too much of him. If I’m thinking back at it, I should have put him in his FDoS outfit the day before and taken the picture via bribery. Everybody smiles for their favorite Smart Sweets suckers or Starbucks Birthday Cake Pop, lol.
I know that it is now past the First Day of School, but if you wanted to try out this DIY, you could definitely make it for the Last Day! If you do, please let me know or send me a picture, I would love to see it!
Love you, Mean it!
Alex
