DIY buffalo check Hello Fall door hang

I love when Fall rolls around! The kids are learning back at school, the leaves are falling and the temperatures are dropping. I love to get my favorite sweatshirt and a cup of hot cocoa and begin putting the decorations out to welcome Fall to my home. This beautiful Fall door hang is a way to welcome Fall & special friends to your home!

Read on to hear how I did it! Follow these 8 steps and you’ll soon have one of your own. (I know it’s a long post, but trust me, you won’t regret it)

Supplies:

1/2 ” MDF circle that measures approx 10.5″ in diameter
(I cut mine out using a jig saw)

1″ stripes vinyl stencil (qty 2)
Hello Fall vinyl stencil from Burton Avenue
Sponge paint brushes
Bristle paint brushes
White paint
Black paint
Terracotta paint
X-acto knife
various black, white and orange ribbons.
Various black, white and orange buttons.
scissors
pencil or pen
hot glue gun/glue
stapler or staple gun (optional)

Step 1: Paint your Hello Fall door hang white

Using a sponge brush, paint your MDF circle white. Use 2-3 coats of paint to make sure it is coated good. I am so impatient when it comes to painting, so I came up with a faster way to paint my projects. Give it a try and see what you think. My 15 minute quick-dry painting method. I promise you will never paint the same again after you try this. Set your circle aside to dry and begin cutting your ribbons.

Step 2: cutting your ribbons for your Hello Fall door hang

I used 9 different types of ribbons and trim. You don’t need to have the same ones, but make sure you cut the same amount of ribbons. I hope I have named these in a descriptive way that makes sense to you, because I honestly don’t know exactly what they are called.

Cut your various ribbons to the following lengths (in inches):

Black 3/8″ ribbon= 36″ (3 feet) {goes around the outside of the circle}
Black with burlap lace= 8″ (Qty 1)
Black and white gingham check= 8″ (Qty 1)
Sheer black and white polka-dots= 8″ (Qty 1)
White= 6″ (Qty 1)
Black with white polka-dots= 3″ (Qty 2)
Orange metallic= 3″ (Qty 4)
White mini Ric Rac= 2″ (Qty 3)
Black Tulle= 24″ (2 feet)–Qty 1

Step 3: painting the buffalo check on your Hello Fall door hang

After you have cut your ribbons the lengths, apply one of your 1″ stripes vinyl stencil to your white circle. Squirt some black paint out on a paper plate, (or use the lid like I did) and dip just the bristles of your bristle paint brush in the paint. Using very light pressure, slightly drag your paint brush bristles across one of the stripes of your stencil. You might need to do this again to get equal coverage on the stripe. Repeat this for every stripe of your stencil.

Once you have painted all the stripes, remove your vinyl stencil. Be careful and make sure the stencil doesn’t pull up any of the paint. Also, if there is wet paint still on your stencil, be sure it doesn’t touch your door hang so you don’t get paint on it. Set your door hang aside and let the paint dry good and long. (You don’t want to apply the next vinyl stencil and accidentally pull up some of the paint because it wasn’t dry and this painting technique is a little thicker in places)

When your black paint is good and dry, repeat with the other 1″ stripes vinyl stencil, only apply it perpendicular to the stripes you did first.

Paint it the same way you did before. After you have painted all the stripes, go back to the sections where it is black stripe on black stripe and paint that spot (should look like a square) a little more to make it darker, or more solid black.

I did this part painting against the stripe stencil, not with it. (I hope this makes sense)

After you’ve done that, again, remove your stencil using caution. Set it aside again to dry completely.

Step 4: painting Hello Fall on your Hello Fall door hang

After your buffalo check has been painted on and is dry, you’re going to paint the Hello Fall on it. Using your Hello Fall vinyl stencil, apply it to your Hello Fall door hang. Keep in mind you want a little spot for your bow so don’t place it too close to the top. It doesn’t matter which way you put it on, but I wanted the words to be running with the stripes of my buffalo check.

After you have applied your Hello Fall vinyl stencil, press firmly along the edges of your vinyl to make sure it adheres to the buffalo check sign properly. Squirt some terracotta paint onto a paper plate and using the side of your sponge brush, you are going to lightly dab the paint onto the stencil. You don’t want to be too rough with this step otherwise the paint will bleed under the stencil. I did this about 3-4 times (with drying in between) before my stencil was completely filled.

After you have filled your stencil in completely with the terracotta paint you are going to carefully remove the vinyl stencil and any straggling parts. Set it aside to dry.

Step 5: lining the outside of your Hello Fall door hang with ribbon

When the Terracotta paint has dried completely, you are going to hot glue the 3/8″ black ribbon around the outer edge. Begin at the bottom of your Hello Fall door hang. Place a little hot glue on the bottom and press the end of the black ribbon firmly onto the glue. Hold for a bit and let the glue dry. When the glue seems to be a little dry and holding the ribbon securely in place, continue gluing the ribbon. Apply a thin thin line of glue then firmly press the ribbon on and repeat.

When you come upon your starting point, measure how much more ribbon you will need and cut the ribbon at an angle. You DO want to overlap your ribbon a little so make sure you don’t cut the ribbon too short. At the end of the ribbon, where it is overlapping the starting ribbon, put a little extra glue to be sure it will hold it into place.

Step 6: prepping your ribbons for your bow on your Hello Fall door hang

Ok so this part is very challenging for me to describe in words how I did it. Hopefully I can communicate it well enough and there are enough photos that you will understand.

Beginning with one your 8″ length ribbons, you are going to hot glue it into kind of a figure 8 shape. Repeat this “figure-8 shape” gluing step for all the 8″ and 6″ ribbons. Do NOT glue them to your Hello Fall door hang until all the ribbons are prepped.

Moving on to one of the 3″ ribbons, you are going to make kind of a petal shape by hot gluing the ends together. Repeat this step for all the 3″ ribbons.

You are not going to do anything with the 2″ Ric Rac pieces. They are going to stay untouched.

Step 7: building your bow for your Hello Fall door hang

Now that you have all your ribbons glued and ready, it’s time to build your big bow. Begin with the “figure-8” ribbons, laying one down at a time on top of each other. Play with this a little until you get the look you want. Once you have the desired look, use a little hot glue and begin gluing them into place. **NOTE** it is ok to put a few of the petal shaped ribbons under the last “figure-8” ribbon if you want. That is what I did. I wanted the metallic orange ribbon to not be so strong on the top of my bow so I put it under the white “figure-8” ribbon.

When the “figure-8” ribbons have been glued into place, begin placing the petal shape ribbons on top in different spots. Again, play with this step until you have your desired look. When you like the layout you have done, begin gluing those pieces into place with hot glue.

Now its time to put the Ric Rac into place. Lift different sides of your bow and slide the Ric Rac in under the other ribbons. Do this for all 3 and make sure you like how it looks before you glue them into place with a small dab of hot glue.

You’re doing great! This is by far the hardest part of the project. When all the ribbons are glued into place, arrange your buttons on top of your bow.

You are going to do this part to cover any glue or loose edges of ribbons. I used 3 different colored buttons to just give it a nice finished look. You can use as many or as little as you would like. Once again you are going to glue them into place, after you have decided the placement you like, with a little hot glue. Let your Hello Fall door hang sit so the hot glue on the bow can cool and harden completely before attaching the Tulle to the back.

Step 8: attaching the Tulle to your Hello Fall door hang for hanging

Woohoo! You are finally to the last step! This has been a big long post and project. Sometimes I struggle when there is a lot to read to a tutorial, but trust me, it’s totally worth it!

Now that your hot glue has cooled and hardened (on ribbon bow and buttons, paying close attention to where the “Hello Fall” is placed on your door hang, flip it over (face down) Choose 2 spots where you want to attach your Tulle for hanging and while holding it into place, turn the door hang over and check to make sure the Tulle is evenly spaced so when you hang your door hang it is straight.

Also, you want to double check the length of the Tulle you want. I used the whole 24″ and afterwards I wished I would have shortened it. I just feel it is a little too long and my door hang swings quite a bit when the door opens and closes. Make any adjustments you may need. Now flip it back over, face down, and mark the spots with a pencil or pen so you don’t lose the placement you want.

Now with your placements marked, tie a knot in both ends of the Tulle. I think I tied 2 knots on top of each other, to get a thicker knot to work with. Now put a large glob of hot glue on one of the marked placements and press the knot into the hot glue.