A happy birthday bunting

I’ve got birthdays on the brain since my second-born son is celebrating his this week. He’s one of the greatest, funniest kids I know, and I love having him in our family.

In preparation I hung up a bunting with birthday photos from every year of his life. I started putting these together a few years ago, and I made one for my oldest son too. Here’s the how-to:

Print your photos as 5X7. I opted to have mine printed on cardstock at the copy shop, but you could also have 5X7s printed at a photo center.

Make a template of the size and shape you want each photo to be. I thought about cutting my photos into triangles with the point at the bottom, like little pennants, but by cutting a “bird’s beak” out of each one, I was able to retain more of the photo.

Before cutting anything, use the template to make sure your shape won’t interfere with any essential parts of the photo. If things look good, trace the part you are going to cut, then start cutting.

Growing up my mom taught me that when it comes to posters of any kind, the pieces always look best mounted on other paper. That’s true for this bunting too.

If you are making yours from 5X7s, cut another template for the foundation pieces for mounting photos. I made mine 6” X 8.5” (before the bird’s beak cutout) so I would have a decent border around each photo. Cut a bird’s beak in the bottom of your template so there’s a half-inch border there too.

Glue photos into place.

Use clothespins to hang photos from a piece of jute, rope, or ribbon. One of the best things about this project is that it can grow with your child; store the photos in a file until next year, then add a new photo from each birthday as he or she gets older. •

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