It’s almost Valentine’s Day, which means you need an XOXO Banner. With just a catalog, a piece of string, and a literal scrap of tissue paper you can have your very own XOXO Banner ready to hang in minutes. Because who doesn’t need more X’s and O’s? I think I’ll leave mine up all year.

• Stylish home decor you can make in minutes

• Needs just a catalog, a small piece of tissue paper, string, and tape

• Makes a unique giftable Valentine. Goes right into an envelope for mailing!

• May result in more hugs and/or kisses

Steps At a Glance:

Ready? Here’s how:

1

You’ll need:

• a catalog

• small piece of tissue paper

• string or twine, any kind

• scissors

• tape, double-sided tape, glue stick, or a stapler

• a pen

2

Cut about 4 feet of string or twine and tie a loop at each end.

Take the staples out of the catalog. I use a coin to pry the legs up from the inside. Or you can use a remover if you have one.

3

Take one whole page of the catalog, closed like a book with the fold on the left.

I happened to have this colorful seed catalog, but any catalog you have will make a great-looking banner.

Fold it bottom to top, then once more from bottom to top.

Keep the fold at the bottom edge through the next steps.

Trim about 1/4” off the top edge, through all the layers.

4

Make the X’s

Make sure the long folded edge is at the bottom, and draw an X from corner to corner. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Cut away the top triangle.

Cut shorter triangles from the opposite side.

Open up, and see your two X’s. Each one is two layers joined at the top fold.

5

Make the O’s

Start with a new, folded page from step 3.

Make sure the long folded edge is at the bottom. Round off the outer top corners, leaving about half of the left and right ends flat and uncut like in the picture. This leaves enough of the folded edge to hold the two O’s together for hanging.

Cut a shallow oval away from the folded edge to make the middle of your O.

Open up and see your two O’s. They’re double-layered like the X’s.

6

Open up one of the O’s. Cut a piece of tissue paper to fit over the hole in the O. Stick it to the top of the O with tape, double-sided tape, or glue stick like I used here.

Repeat with the other O.

7

Now you’re ready to put the X’s and O’s on a string for hanging. Open up an X and lay your prepared string inside the fold.

Draw a line of glue stick underneath the string, leaving room for the string.

Close the X and press to stick the two sides together.

Attach an O to the string the same way.

Tip: Put the glue or tape on the catalog paper rather than the tissue paper, which might tear or wrinkle.

Tip: Instead of glue stick you can close the X over the string and staple near the fold. Leave room for the string to move so you can arrange your X’s and O’s later.

Repeat for the other X and O.

Your XOXO Banner is finished! Hang and admire.

And Happy Valentine’s Day <3 !

and try this:

Borders

Add color with borders! Draw a marker line around the letter before attaching to the string. I used a broad-tipped marker for this one (it looks wrinkled but that’s just the catalog image).

Your border color can match the tissue paper, the string, the colors in the catalog page, or be totally different. The X’s and O’s can be decorated differently.

You might think of other marker decorations to add!

Thank you for reading! If you have questions, please drop me a line.