First Communion Banner

I was busy preparing for my daughter's first communion last week and I wanted to share this little project with you that my family made together for her special day.  My daughter was given the option to create a first communion banner which would hang on her chair during mass.  I suggested to my husband that he oversee this project, because he is Catholic and I am not.  I didn't want to put together anything that wasn't appropriate for the occasion.  If you know me, I still had to put in my two cents about the design and it ended up being a family project that we all became involved in.  I have to tell you that my husband actually assembled most of it.  My husband, who is a big burly man, is quite crafty.  While we were dating, he once gave me a bouquet of paper flowers he made himself.  Yep, I married a good one.  Anyway, back to the project.  

Here's how it went down.  We were given the directions to make the banner out of felt and perhaps write out our child's name and first communion date on it in puffy paint.  I knew that this would probably end up looking a bit messy so, I typed up my daughter's name and the date in a nice font and printed it onto transfer paper that I then ironed onto a white piece of felt.  My husband cut a chalice out of yellow felt and I suggested that he highlight some areas with some darker shades of yellow too.  Grapes leaves and grapes in two different shades of green and purple were then cut out.  We knew that we wanted shafts of wheat on the banner, but my husband wasn't sure how he could make felt look like wheat, so I suggested using an actual piece of wheat bought from the craft store.  The host was also cut out of a wheat colored piece of felt.  I had some left over gold glittery scrap book paper that my husband used to make the cross.  There you have it - my daughter's first communion banner!  What do you think?  Does your family craft together too?