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Paper Letter Bunting

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January 9, 2012 By Jackie

My 20 month old is starting to recognize letters (pointing to them when named), so I thought it was high time I put his name up in his room.  Choosing a child’s name is something most of us mull over for months.  We want something original and meaningful.  After all that pondering I think it is normal to want to celebrate and display the chosen name.

For our second son, we were stumped.  We hoped for a girl, if only to use the girl name we had already mutually agreed on during our first pregnancy.  But we were blessed with another boy.  With our first we lucked out with the family naming tradition and our son inherited daddy’s name.  That was it…we used up all of our creativity for boy’s names.  We couldn’t even come up with a list of boys names we liked.  Now what were we going to do for boy #2?  We went for the baby name books and my husband stumbled upon the name Jax.  I was smitten with the idea, because that was my childhood nickname.  Boy #1 would be named after daddy and boy #2 after mommy.  For the middle name, we used my maiden name to complete the whole “named after mommy effect”.  His name is very meaningful to us, but since my maiden name is also a common first name, most people never connect the dots.

Paper letter bunting

Anyway, it was time to celebrate Jax’s name and put it on display.  I wanted something simple and homemade.  I love to craft while watching TV, so I came up with a quick and simple letter bunting project.  I made this while watching Dear Genevieve the other night.  I love the simple cut letters hung from twine with mini clothespins.  It was free and easy.  I won’t be too heartbroken when someday Jax decides he is too big to have his name all over his room.

I printed the letters in Helvetic font and sized each letter to fill one page.  I cut out the letters and used then traced them onto the back of my decorative paper.  For the papers, I chose three different scrapbook papers from my stash that coordinated with the nursery color scheme.

name letter bunting

I used small hook eyes to hang the bunting.  These were actually the little hook eyes that come in picture hanging kits.  I screwed two right into the drywall.  Then I tied the ends of the jute twine to each hook eye, leaving it sag a bit in the middle.  I clipped the clothespins so the jute went in the tiny hole near the hinge and then clipped in the paper letters.

cut paper letter bunting

I hung the bunting above this adorable photo collage from Jax’s newborn photo session…all his little baby parts.  I think the bronze frame against the teal walls is amazing.  Now the bunting and this collage are the first things you see when you walk into the room.  They put a smile on my face every time!

I love the ease and simplicity of this project.  I think this would be fabulous for party bunting too!

Tell me…how did you choose your children’s names?  Do you like to display their name or initial?

Sharing this project here:
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Comments

  1. Susan says

    January 9, 2012 at 10:28 am

    For our oldest son, Spencer Danger his first name is after my husbands middle name and the middle name was something I had read online. I think a celebrity had named their son Danger and I mentioned it to my husband in a matter of fact way. Next thing I knew we had chosen it for his middle name. I have his monogram (DSD- the S is larger then the D’s) in black antiqued Times New Roman font mdf above his door.

    Our 2nd son (we had also hoped for a girl but were delighted we could use our backup boys name) Oliver Speed, his first name was a favorite of ours and his middle name had to compete with Spencer’s. We couldn’t just give him a conventional middle name after his brother’s middle is as quirky as Danger. I have his name spelled out in mdf, in a simple Calibri font. Unfinished….I can’t seem to decide how to display or finish the letters off.

    Love the idea of scrapbook paper letters….so simple and cheap. i love cheap.

    • Jackie says

      January 9, 2012 at 5:47 pm

      Susan,

      What awesome names for boys. At first I was thinking wow your son can actually say “my middle name is danger”. Then you topped it with your youngest being able to say “my middle name is speed”! Are you having more kids? I hope you have some more creative names stocked up.

      For Oliver’s MDF name have you considered covering the letters in scrapbook paper? Glue them face down on the paper and then cut them out with an xacto knife. Fabric would be cool too!

  2. Judith says

    January 9, 2012 at 11:12 am

    I live in Jacksonville, FL, first thing I thought when I saw the JAX picture was…JAX airport…

  3. [email protected] in a Row says

    January 10, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    I turned out cute and I bet he loves it!

  4. Vicky says

    January 10, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    We like old fashioned names and so we had a list we liked. We just could not use Charlotte since we had already named our cat that. :-) I am a new Twitter follower visiting from Blue Cricket Design. Vicky from Mess For Less

    • Jackie says

      January 10, 2012 at 10:38 pm

      Welcome Vicky. That is so fun what you say about the cat name. We used our favorite girl name for our dog, Sofia. So maybe it is good we did not have a girl. Wonder if anyone has ever named a child after a pet or renamed the pet so they could use the name for a child?

      • Andrea says

        February 24, 2012 at 4:46 am

        When I met my cat, I named him Emil but it didn’t sound right so I changed it to Emilio later on.
        I’m not pregnant or anything right now, but if I ever get a son, his name will be Emil Augustin. I LOVE the name Emil xD

        • Molly says

          February 27, 2012 at 7:17 am

          funny you mention that I am currently pregnant, we are not finding out the gender, but if it is a boy I want to name him Rory…. which is currently our dogs name! I really messed up picking a “favorite name” for a pet… so now we are trying to rename the dog, get the dog to answer to it’s new name AND convince our 3 year old twins…. I may have to find a new “favorite name!”

  5. Q @ JAQS says

    January 10, 2012 at 11:42 pm

    I love that idea of using the letters for bunting. I have such a hard time decorating the empty walls for my boys rooms – I’ll definitely try doing something like this :)

    If you get a chance, love for you to share this at my Link Party: http://www.jaqsstudio.com/2012/01/made-by-me-13-linky-party-and-features.html

    -Q

  6. Maureen says

    January 13, 2012 at 1:35 am

    Dear Jackie,

    My daughter is 16 and still loves to have her name up in her bedroom. Now to be honest we didn’t have it up when she was little due to the fact that she grew up in base housing and I couldn’t do much without having to return the room to it’s original condition when we left. So when my husband retired and we bought a house we put her name up and she has loved it ever since. I took wooden letters that she picked out and painted them the shade of blue that she wanted and hung them up with 3M removeable tape. By the way her name is Jacquelyn and we picked her name about two years before she was born. To make a long story short, for no particular reason my husband and I were putting names together, (we had been told years earlier that children would be a difficult goal to achieve) and weren’t even thinking about getting pregnant. While watching amovie that evening the name Jacqueline showed up in the credits and we looked at each other and said “Elizabeth!” and that is how my daughter got her name. My side of the family goes for the different spellings and my husband found this one in the Baby Name book we had.

    Maureen

    • Jackie says

      January 13, 2012 at 7:07 am

      Maureen,

      Thanks for sharing. I think your daughter has the best name :). Also, I want to thank you and your family for serving our country. I know you probably made many sacrifices during your husband’s career, the least of which was decor related. Thank you!

  7. regalle says

    January 26, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    this is SO cute! my son’s name is jaxson and we call him jax for short. I’ve been wanting to put his name above his crib but I’m so paranoid about the wooden letters falling on him while he sleeps. (first time mom, super paranoid! lol). hope you don’t mind if I steal this idea for his room!

  8. Angela M says

    February 23, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    We have a 2 1/2 month old we named Ezra Watson. Ezra because my husband loved the name and Watson after his grandfather. I found some cute string art on Pinterest and I thought it looked so cool and had to try it! And I had all the materials so I have “EWM” hanging in his room made of string art. I also took a cardboard “E” and using the same fabric I used for his curtains, Mod Podged it to the E and put it on the front of his bedroom door. I also have a white painted wooden “E” hanging in his frame gallery. I have yet to actually make something that spells out his actual name, haha but eventually I will Im sure! Love your ideas btw, just came across your site today. Love the milk & cookies bday idea.. since I LOVE cookies.. maybe that’ll be a good idea for when he turns 1. :) Thanks!

    • Jackie says

      February 23, 2012 at 6:07 pm

      Angela,

      Thanks for sharing. Ezra Watson is a great name. I am loving all the string art inspiration out there too. I need to find a way to incorporate some around here.

  9. Karen says

    February 23, 2012 at 10:27 pm

    My oldest is named Jaxom, but his nickname is Jax. It also is the nickname of mine and my husband’s alma mater, where we met. All of ours were named from whatever book we were reading at the time. :) My oldest two have their names up in their rooms; I don’t think it’s babyish at all. And I love the paper bunting idea!

  10. Ashley says

    February 23, 2012 at 11:02 pm

    I just had my 4th boy, so I’m starting to think I’m reaching pro status on boy picking here. I don’t even bother with girl names anymore lol. Mine range from 9 and a half to 3 months old. Kaden JohnPaul, Parker Kameron, Xander Jeremiah, and the newbie Maddox Asher, (after Mama this time too!)
    In the nursery I did an ‘M’ collage of varying sizes & fonts, almost all from Michaels. On a larger mdf M I traced the scrapbook paper & glued it on. Super easy & very cheap-and looks awesome too.
    Btw I wandered over here from YHL today too…Love!!! You have yourself another reader for sure!

    • Jackie says

      February 23, 2012 at 11:18 pm

      Thanks for sharing Ashley. Those are all really cool boy names!

  11. Amy says

    February 26, 2012 at 10:09 pm

    Very cute! My son’s name is Jaxon and we often call him Jax. Saw this on Pinterest and I was thrilled to see his name!

  12. Jule {inside9B} says

    November 22, 2012 at 5:37 am

    My daughter’s name is Emilia Charlize. Emilia because we wanted some traditional German name and this one is also popular in Italy and we have an Italian family name (although no known Italian relatives nor ancestors). Then when I was pregnant they had a “long Charlize Theron film night” on TV and I watched 2 movies, Monster and The Cider House Rules. I loved her in both and we loved her name, too. You can see the name as a combination of two common names (also in Germany), Charlotte and Louise (which we like), and with this spelling we were sure to give her a name that wouldn’t be common here. Actually, we have never met another girl with this name and are still glad we made this decision! She has her name in wooden letters at the wall of her playroom.
    Jule

    • Jackie says

      November 22, 2012 at 7:10 am

      Jule, Thank you for sharing. Emilia Charlize is a beautiful name. I love a nice fancy girls name!

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