Easy Halloween Picture Banner

I've always loved displaying pictures of my kids during the holidays as part of my decorating.  So many fun memories are made each year!  I love to have them out for our family to look at often.

In my previous house I made this aqua frame for my family room so that I could easily switch out seasonal pictures.

But the frame wasn't working in our new family room so I decided to just hang the pictures across my fireplace mantel.

It turned out cute and was SO easy to do.  It took a whole 15 minutes and my kids love it!  I already had a lot of these past Halloween pictures so I just developed a few more recent pics to add to the banner.  (All of the pics are 5x7)

 I used thick burlap from the craft store and just folded it in half.  

 I moved a picture so you can see what the burlap looks like underneath.  

I was trying to figure out how to attach it without damaging my mantel or the paint so I wrapped the burlap up on each end of the mantel...

and then just pulled each end underneath the lanterns (the right end was much longer than the other to reach the opposite side).  I did this at first just to see if the burlap would work and how it would look, but it held everything so well I just left it like this.  No need to come up with a fancy attachment and make things harder than they need to be!  Especially for something seasonal that I will take back down soon.

 Then I just used clothespins to attach the pictures.  

*sidenote:  I did a little happy dance when I went to find my clothespins!  No searching because they were organized so nicely with all of my school/craft supplies in a labeled bin in my office.

Made me want to ditch the mantel decorating and start organizing another office cupboard!  But that's my problem.  I start too many things and then don't finish anything.  So on that note -- back to the topic at hand.  :)

 The clothespins and burlap worked great.  Like I said, so easy.  

My kids love the banner and having our favorite Halloween books out.  Makes it really feel like October.  They come over to this spot every day to look at the pictures and read a book or two.  I especially love walking in the room and seeing one of my girls reading to Kole.  So sweet.  

Looking back at these pictures makes me realize once again how quickly my kids are growing up.  It's a good reminder to me to slow down and enjoy this fun time of year with them.

Happy October friends.  

:)