Summer Drop Cloth Banner

Sometimes I fall into an idea.

Love that when that happens! 🙂

I was working on our front porch and getting it ready for the Summer at Home tour.

Deciding drop cloth curtains would be smashing on the porch, I got busy painting, hanging, adding more paint and rehanging.

Between all the painting and hanging, I noticed something….

Painted drop cloth doesn’t fray.  The paint holds the fibers in place.

Cool!

So, what can I do with this information…

Make a summer drop cloth banner for over our front door.

Anything would be a step up from last summer!

Can you tell I’m not a fan of summer?  That’s what happens to a girl that loves green grass and huge shade trees but finds herself in the desert.

So, for my step up plan I painted a piece of drop cloth with creamy white paint.  When dried I cut the drop cloth into seven 4 by 12 strips.

No fraying!

Then I made a transfer of the word “summer.”

To make a transfer, print the lettering backwards onto a piece of freezer paper.  Freezer paper is found in any grocery store in a large roll.  You cut the paper down to 8 ½ by 11 and feed it into your printer so the ink prints on the shiny side.  It’s easier to type the instructions that do it.  Only because the paper is on a roll and for my printer, it needs to lay fairly flat.

But now it’s a cinch!  I found freezer paper in 8 ½ by 11 sheets!  Thank you, amazon!  The cost is a bit more that the roll, but the frustration level is priceless. 🙂

But the transfer didn’t show well on the painted drop cloth… 🙁

Not to give up yet and just paint summer across my spring banner again, I used the transfer as a guide and filled in with red craft paint.

The other six strips of painted drop cloth became my canvas.   Which by the way have a unique texture and feel, almost leather~like.

I thought about colorful flowers of all types covering the canvas.  Too much work.

Maybe simple daisies.  They remind me of “he loves me ~ he loves me not!”

Nope!

Simple!  Dandelions blowing.

 

And, they’re easier to draw.

The grommet pliers came in handy to add grommets to the top corners.

I strung the summer drop cloth banner on twine and hung it up.

Must better than last year don’t you think?

Now I’m ready….

for autumn! 🙂