My crush on vintage books as party decor continues! Today, I’m showing you how to make the vintage book Happy Birthday banner that you’ll see at my daughters’ 8th birthday party. You can make this as one long banner with divider pages or as a two-layer banner.
Update: you can see our Nancy Drew Birthday Party here.
Vintage Book Banner Supplies
- Vintage book
- Paper trimmer
- Aleene’s Thick Tacky Glue
- Black scrapbook cardstock, 12″ x 12″ – 2 sheets
- Yellow chipboard letters OR Silhouette machine and yellow scrapbook cardstock, 12″ x 12″
- Scallop circle punch, 3.25″
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Yellow grosgrain ribbon, 7/8″ width
- Mini clothespins, 1″ long (you’ll need 32 clothespins, so buy two packs)
Vintage Book Banner Instructions
1 – Gently tear 13 text pages and three illustration pages out of your book. I used all text pages for the “Happy Birthday” letters. You also could use illustrations as end papers.
2 -Trim off the rough edge where you tore out the pages.
3 – Take an empty cereal box (or something similar), cut out one panel, and create a template for your notch. My book is roughly 5″ x 7,” so for me, a triangle that had two 3.25″ sides was the right scale.
4 – Place the template at the bottom of your page on the OPPOSITE side that you want to show. With your pencil, outline the two top sides of the triangle. Cut out the triangle shape.
5 – Punch out 13 circles from the black scrapbook paper. I used a 3.25″ scallop punch by Marvy. You could also use your die cutting machine.
6 – Use a thin bead of Aleene’s Thick Tacky Glue to adhere the circles to each banner page (the side with no pencil marks). At this stage, I put my pages under a heavy book overnight so the glue doesn’t warp the pages.
7 – I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out letters spelling “Happy Birthday.” I used the font American Typewriter at 250 pts and it all fit on one sheet of yellow 12″ x 12″ cardstock. If you don’t have a die cutting machine, just use chipboard letters from the scrapbooking section of your local craft store. Or, buy pre-cut letters from an Etsy seller. In any case, glue the letters to the black circles.
8 – Glue the letters to your black circles. After I put the letter on the circle, I placed a paper towel over everything and pressed down. The paper towel caught any glue that oozed out from under the letter.
9 – If you want to create end papers, use illustrations in your book. In this case, you may need to outline your notch on the side of the page that will show. After you cut out the notch, erase the pencil marks.
10 – Normally, I would use a single hole punch to add a hole to each corner of my banner. In this case, I was afraid to rip the vintage book pages. So, just use mini clothespins (1″) to hang your banner from grosgrain ribbon. The clothespins will make your banner a little heavy, so make sure the ties are secure when you hang your banner.
The finished banner is 6.5′ long, plus 2′ of ribbon on either end, for a total of 10.5′, so if you want to hang this as a single banner (as I’ve done below), you’ll need a good bit of space.
Adorable and very simple to do!!!! I cannot wait to see how everything comes together.
You said it, Keisha. If it’s not simple, it’s not for me. 🙂
This is so cute!
I wish that you could scan the pages of your book so that we wouldn’t have to tear apart another book just to make this banner.
Thanks, Amber – I’m glad you like the banner. But, I think copyright laws would prevent me from scanning the pages to share.
Yep, just wishful thinking on my part.