Hello everyone! Are you decking your halls with festive Christmas decor and handmade crafts? Today I am going to be showing you how to make a quick and easy, festive sheet music Christmas music banner using just a few supplies from Target, Hobby Lobby and Michaels. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
Just before Thanksgiving I found a canvas sheet music banner at the Target dollar spot and I knew I wanted to use it in my music room for Christmas. I don’t have a picture of the banner in the original package because like so many of my projects I jump right and excitedly get to work before realizing I have great content for a blog post, so I didn’t think to get a picture. Instead I am using a photo of a piece of the original banner on top of a red ticking stripe banner (also from Target) which was the same price ($3) and packaged the exact same way.
I had originally planned to stencil on some letters, but I was crunched for time due to my music room tour for It’s A Wonderful House Holiday Home Tours blog hop. I had to come up with something quickly! I decided to use some little wooden letters from Hobby Lobby instead. The only problem was deciding which word or phrase to use. There were seven flag/pennants on the banner and no Christmas words or phrases would work: Joy? Peace? Merry? Deck The Hall?
Then I realized I could easily remove the two end flags, leaving five for “Fa La La La La,” which would be perfect for a music room!
Okay, before we proceed any further, the teacher in me cannot resist this “teachable moment” so it is time for your music history lesson. Did you know that the actual title of this familiar carol is “Deck The Hall,” and not “Deck The HallS?” Although the plural form of the word “hall” has become popular in the title over time, the original carol was a Welsh yuletide and New Year’s Eve carol, “Nos Galen” dating to the sixteenth century. Deck the hall refers to adorning the great hall of grand homes, such as an entrance or ballroom, and not the hallways of homes as we think of them in the modern sense. While you will often hear “Deck The Halls” on the radio and popular movies, most school, college and professional choral groups will perform the song using the original (and correct) title, Deck The Hall. So there’s your random information for the day!
And now for the rest of the story…
The only other prep work for the banner was painting the letters and gluing them on. I really think the letters would look great painted black if the banner was being used all year round with a word like “Imagine” on all seven flags, or “Create” on six, etc., but since I was going to specifically be using it for Christmas I wanted it to have a little shine, with a touch of shabby-chic “patina.”
I really love Decoart AmericanaDECOR paints! You can find them at Michaels Stores or order them through Amazon as well. I started with some gold metallic paint and simply painted the letters with a sponge brush.
After they dried (just about 20 minutes) I dry brushed some Decoart Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in Everlasting. I loved how the letters looked, but when I held them up on the wall with the banner they really didn’t show up very well.
Deco Art ADC-01 Americana Chalky Finish Paint, 8-Ounce, Everlasting
Because the ceiling in the music room is copper metallic tile, I decided to dry brush some Decoart Copper Metallic Paint over top of the gold and white. This created a really pretty effect which is just right for Christmas.
The copper metallic paint just lightly brushed on over the other two colors really helped make the letters pop! To finish the banner I simply glued the letters on the banner with hot glue and voila!
Or, “Fa La!” I should say!
Here you can see a bit of all three colors layered and I really like the “patina.”
The banner is perfect for the spot where children will gather around in just a couple of weeks for my annual Christmas caroling party! I already had some pretty small needle pine and holly berry garland to hang above piano, but it looked too plain by itself. The addition of the music banner and a simple sheet music paper chain garland was just the look I was hoping for. I tied off each side with beautiful old-fashioned velvet ribbon in a gorgeous ivory color.
I was feeling so crafty that I also started out making a vintage sheet music paper chain for the Christmas tree, but soon realized it was going to take a while to make a long enough chain to go around our large tree!
I am always looking for ways to incorporate simple decorations from Christmases of yesteryear so the paper chain garland was perfect. When I realized I wasn’t going to get enough made to do the whole tree in time for my blog tour, I had the idea to use the garland with the greenery and banner and I love how it all looks together. It is very easy to make a paper chain and I will share a little DIY tutorial in an upcoming post.
I absolutely love this banner, garland and greenery together! The only issue I had with the garland was the sides of the fabric unraveling a bit as you can see here. I didn’t really notice it until working on this post, so today I just went in and snipped off the strings. If you decide to make one of these banners using this particular fabric banner, be very careful removing the strings because the sides will unravel. You could also make this same style of banner using sheet music printed on card stock and cut into a flag or pennant shape and strung together with some twine through eyelets.
Well, the music room is decked, but the rest of the “halls” look like a Christmas tornado has hit so I will be spending the next few days trying to finish up on my decor throughout the rest of my home. So far I am creating the shabby vintage Christmas look I love so much! (See my Pinterest Board Have Yourself A Shabby Vintage Christmas for more ideas.)
While I am working on my own decorating I will be sharing two wonderful guest blog posts later this week that are sure to inspire so please plan to visit again soon! If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more of my music room, you can tour it here.
There will also be a fun Home For Christmas link party December 13th-26th (live now!) hosted by Debra from Common Ground and I. If you are a blogger you can link up all of your holiday posts, or you can simply come and view all the posts for inspiration. Hope to see you there!
Now I am off to deck the halls, or should I say,”Deck the Hall?” Ah, Potato-Potahto! Have a great week!
Amber
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