3 Cheers For Love! An Easy Pennant Tutorial

A few weeks ago, I had a friend and her kids over for a playdate/Valentines photo shoot. I threw it together at the very last minute and couldn’t get out to shop for cute props and outfits.

So I pieced together whatever the kids had in their closets that were in the pink, red, white range and fit (which actually ruled out a lot). And then Kendall and I made some quick decor and props out of some craft supplies I had stashed away from other projects.

Kendall helped me cut hearts out of felt and I hot glued them to ribbon to make streamers for our background, which was set against our barn doors in the office. Then we made a couple pennants out of felt for the kids to hold.

Man, I can do almost anything with felt and a little hot glue. Those are the supplies I’m hoarding for the end of the world. We got a handful of cute pics, mostly thanks to some jelly beans.. okay, a lot of jelly beans.

Of course, my kids love to play up their “photographer’s children” syndrome and fight my requests for sweet poses. (That one up there? TOTALLY LUCKY shot.) BUT, fortunately my friend’s kids are not quite there yet, and I wound up getting a sweet shot of miss A showing off her pennant.

The pennants have turned out to be a big hit with the kids. They like to run around and wave them. Kendall likes to “decorate” his room with them. They were so easy to put together, I didn’t even think of documenting the process for a tutorial at the time, so I went back and made another one today to show you all how it’s done. You can use this same concept for any season, holiday or reason. They make adorable photo props!

What you need:

3 colors of felt, less than 1/2 a yard of each (or scraps for 2 colors)
1 12″ wood dowel (I purchased these in the cake decorating section at the craft store.)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Ruler
Siccors

Take one piece of felt (the largest, and the one that will make up the majority of the pennant) and fold it in half. Along the fold measure 8″ inches across from the edge of the felt. Make a mark or a small snip with your scissors. Also make a mark (but not a snip!) at 4″ (or halfway across).

At the 4″ mark, place your ruler perpendicular to the fold of the felt and measure down 11″ for a medium sized pennant or 14″ for a large pennant and make a mark.

The pennants the kids are holding in their Valentines pics are large. The one I made for this tutorial is medium. 

Line your ruler from the 11″ or 14″ center mark all the way up to the 8″ width mark or the edge of the felt at the fold and draw a light line. Cut along these lines for a perfect triangle.

Next, using the same method, cut a smaller triangle from your second color of felt. This time, though, there is no need to fold it in half. Just use the edge of the felt as your guide. For the medium pennant, I cut a triangle 5 x 7″. For the large pennant, I cut a triangle 6 x 11″.

To make the heart, I simply folded this triangle in half and cut one out.

Then go ahead and cut a 1.5 x 8″ piece of felt from your 3rd color and set it aside.

Unfold the large piece (the pennant) and hot glue the wooden dowel down the middle.

Fold the pennant back in half, over the wooden dowel, and hot glue all the edges together. You’ll probably have to apply a little extra hot glue near the top and the bottom of the dowel.

Place the 1.5 x 8″ piece along the edge of the pennant, and trim the edges to match the angle. Then hot glue that down.

The last step is to line your smaller triangle up, centered along the bottom edge of the accent piece you just glued down, and glue it down.

Tada! It is so super simple and a really fast project.

We’re brainstorming 5th birthday party ideas for Kendall now, and he’s leaning toward a baseball party. I’m starting to envision a few nights of making pennant party favors.