Shabby Chic Burlap Birthday Sign

For this party, I've noticed a huge trend in Burlap so I decided to use it in my design.  After I saw a wedding where they used a burlap sign for "Here Comes The Bride",  I decided to make a Birthday sign out of it.  I couldn't have loved it more!

To start I took a big piece of burlap that I got in the fabric store and cut it to the size that I wanted it.  Then I printed letters out and placed them on the sign to see how much room they would take up, and if I needed to make them smaller or bigger. I wanted this to look free handed, so i just placed them above and wrote the letters on without measuring.  If you dont feel confident about this, you can measure the distance for each letter and height and do it that way.  Burlap is a little hard to write on, so I went for the free handed look!

Next get some cheap paint at Home Depot in whatever color you like.  I preferred white against the burlap. Paint on all your letters, and let them dry over night.  Make sure to put plastic underneath your surface because the paint will bleed through the burlap. 

In the morning take a hot glue gun with strips of whatever fabric you want.  Fold them in half and then Hot glue them to the edges of the burlap to add a cute flare to it, this will also keep your edges clean and free from unraveling.  You can do this before you paint the letters as well, I was making things up as I went along.  After glueing them measure up six inches from the bottom.  Then take your scissors and twist them in the burlap to make a hole.  Make it big enough for your ribbons to thread though.  Then tie a square knot at the bottom and it make a cute gather. 

Last buy a dowel in wood or a metal rod at Home Depot to suport the sign.  I ran a heavy duty rope along with the rod and had it come out on either side and used it to tie the sign up. THEN I folded about 2 to 3 inches over the rope and rod on the back of the sign and glued it like a pocket.

  I put one on each side, tied it in a knot and then tied it to the tree on different branches making it as even as possible.  Depending on what your going to do with the sign, you might not need this step. 

Enjoy being creative and making this your own!