Bunting Designs to Personalize 🌟 CCC 2025

Christmas crafts don’t always have to be complicated, and this bunting design is a great example of something that’s simple to make but looks really effective.

In this tutorial, we’re putting together a set of five layered cardstock Christmas bunting pennants, each with a unique festive theme that brings colour and personality to your seasonal décor.

The pennants come blank, giving you complete freedom to add your own message.

Using Cricut Design Space, you’ll learn how to add custom text to each one, so you can create your own bunting banner that suits your space perfectly.

Christmas bunting from Craft with Sarah

Spell out anything from “Merry Christmas” to family names or even a favourite seasonal quote.

It’s a fun way to personalise your decorations, and the designs are detailed without being too fiddly to cut.

Each pennant has enough space for letters to stand out clearly while still letting the background details shine through.

Hang the bunting on a wall, above a mantelpiece, stretching from a TV table, or along a staircase to add a handmade touch to your home.

These pieces also work beautifully as individual signs for table settings or gift tags. With a little creativity, this bunting idea can be used in all sorts of crafty ways, both big and small.

Christmas bunting supply list

Here is a list of the materials that are used to make this project.

Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.

Cricut machine
Light blue Cricut cutting mat
Coloured Card (any thickness)
Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
Ribbon, twine or similar to hang the envelope

This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machines: Explore series, Maker series, Joy Xtra and Joy.

Bunting banner ideas

Foundation learning

If you're new to making papercrafts with your cutting machine, check out these links to get you started.

They include videos on topics such as: which file to use with your type of cutting machine, how to load the files into your cutting machine's software, how to cut cardstock with your type of cutting machine, how to recolor and modify/customize the cut files and tips for displaying your projects.

The following tutorials are Cricut-specific, but many of the ideas will work similarly with a Silhouette or ScanNCut machine and any cut files that are shared in them are compatible with all types of cutting machine.

How to score with a Cricut (even without scoring tools)
Print then cut tutorial
Design Space tools (Combine, Attach, Slice, Weld, Flatten, etc.)
Pattern fill tutorial (for making backgrounds & cutting images to a specific shape/size)
Free envelope SVGs that can be sized to fit any card
Presentation boxes for handmade cards
How to write inside cards with Cricut pens
How to cut layered designs at a small size
Design Space tips & tricks
Cricut pens tutorial
How to mount multiple designs in the same frame with magic guides

Handmade Christmas garland video tutorial

Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.

How to make custom bunting for Christmas

Here’s how to make personalized paper garlands to hang around your home.

Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space

Get the files using the box below.

Purchase the File(s)

This cut file is available as part of the Instant Access Bundle.

Find out more

Or, purchase this design individually here

Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.

After unzipping, upload the SVG file(s) into your cutting machine software.

Not sure how to use cut files with your type of machine? The following links lead to videos on how to open cut files in:

The download folder also contains printable PDF versions of the templates for hand cutting.

If you are using Cricut Design Space, start a new project and then click the “Upload” button on the left of the screen.

You can then either click “Browse” to find the file on your computer, or drag-and-drop it.

Select the file in the “01 Cricut Version” subfolder called svg-01-christmas-bunting-craftwithsarah.svg

Press “Upload” on the next screen.

After uploading, the design should be automatically inserted onto your Canvas.

To hide the left sidebar (to give you more space for designing!), click the arrow that’s about half way down the page.

Bunting step 1

If the design doesn’t get inserted onto your Canvas, it will show under “Uploads” in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Add to Canvas” to put it onto your Project.

The design should load in at 12 inches wide and 12 inches tall, but don’t worry about the size if yours is different as we’ll be changing it shortly.

Step 2) Size the bunting pennants

The bunting pennants load in at 4 inches wide, which is the size I’ll be making mine at, but you may wish to make them bigger or smaller.

Click the design and press “Ungroup”, which is located at the top of the layers panel and in the floating bar along the bottom of the screen.

Bunting step 2

Click one of the pennants (it doesn’t matter which one) and Duplicate it to make a copy. Move the copy over to the side of the screen.

Drag a box around all the original triangles and “Group” them again.

Bunting step 3

Click the eye that appears next to the group name in the layers panel when you hover your mouse over it, to hide the original triangles.

Bunting step 4

Ungroup the duplicated pennant then delete the top decoration layer.

Resize the remaining layer. You may wish to duplicate it and try out different sizes.

If you are making this project with a Cricut Joy, the triangles can be a maximum of 4.5 inches on the shortest side.

Test-cut these layers on some scrap card (or card you don’t mind “wasting”) to check you are definitely happy with the size. It always seems harder to judge the size on the screen compared to actually holding it in your hand.

Bunting step 5

When you’ve chosen your size, delete the test layers and turn the original pennants back on by hovering your mouse over the group in the layers panel and clicking the eye icon.

Now you need to resize these to match your chosen size.

The easiest way to do this is to Ungroup the pennants, then click-and-drag to select them all, then click “Align > Center” to put them on top of each other.

That way, you only need to change the size once and all the designs will change!

Bunting step 6

Step 3) Add your custom letters

The bunting comes blank for your own letters, so you can spell whatever works you like.

Drag the triangles into a line. Delete any that you don’t want to include.

Bunting step 7

Click “Text” and type out the first letter. It’s easiest to write in capital letters.

Change to a thick, chunky font that will be easy for the Cricut to cut from cardstock.

I’m using a Cricut Access font called “BFC Foxy”.

Bunting step 8

A recent Design Space update added a feature called “Snap to Align”. When you resize or move something, rather than being a “free flow” movement, it’s now quite blocky and rigid, and harder to move things in small increments.

To turn that off, so that it’s easier to add the letters into the bunting, click the arrow next to your profile name on the top right of the screen, then go into Settings.

Bunting step 9

Under the “Canvas” heading, change “Snap to Align” to “no”.

Bunting step 10

Resize your letter and place it over the cutout in the bunting.

It should touch the circle of cardstock in at least one place, but ideally in 2 or more places.

Bunting step 11

Ungroup the pennant layers.

Change the letter to the same colour as the top layer of the pennant.

Select the top pennant layer and the letter.

Bunting step 12

Click the pencil icon along the top of the menu bar to open the “More Tools” page.

Under the “Combine” heading, select “Unite”.

This joins the letter to the bunting so that it will cut as one piece of cardstock.

The reason we are using “Unite” instead of “Weld” is because Unite is editable, whereas Weld is instantly permanent. You can still change the size and position of the letter by opening up the “Unite” group in the layers panel, clicking the letter and making your changes.

If you aren’t happy with the size or position, change it now.

Bunting step 13

Repeat this for the other triangles.

Bunting step 14

Here’s how my “MERRY CHRISTMAS” project looks once all the letters are added. I’ve zoomed out quite a long way on the Canvas to fit all the triangles on the screen to show you what they look like.

Bunting step 15

Don’t forget to save your project!

Step 4) Cut out all the layers

When you’re happy with how the project is looking in Design Space, click “Make” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the pieces.

To change the paper size, go into the dropdowns over on the left side of the screen and choose the paper size that you want to use. You need to change it for every single colour.

Bunting step 16

To save space on your cardstock, you can move things around by clicking and dragging. Make sure when you’re moving things about that nothing overlaps because otherwise, it won’t cut out properly.

Click the three dots that appear after selecting a layer and “Move Object” to move the triangles to different pages of the same colour.

By rotating some of them upside down, you can fit more on the page.

Bunting step 17

I used a combination of metallic and glitter cardstock for my bunting, but you can use whichever colours or paper types that you want.

TIP: New to using cardstock with your cutting machine? Check out these machine help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut that go through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your machine.

Step 5) Stick the bunting pennants together

Glue all of the decorative triangles to their matching solid piece.

Bunting step 18

My favourite glues to use on papercraft projects are Bearly Art Glue and Collall All Purpose Glue.

These are great because they don’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!

Bearly Art Glue comes with a tiny nozzle to make it easy to apply glue to small areas of card. The Collall glue doesn’t come with this, so it’s easiest to decant it into needle tip applicator bottles so that you have more control.

Step 6) Thread the pennants together

Unravel a long piece of ribbon and thread the first letter on. Pull it through so you have enough room for all the letters.

I’m doing the “MERRY” and “CHRISTMAS” as two separate strands.

Bunting step 19

Continue threading on all the pennants.

Bunting step 20

DIY bunting to make with a Cricut

Once your bunting is assembled and your chosen words are added, you’ll have a handmade decoration that adds a personal touch to your holiday space. It’s the kind of project that’s easy to customise for different rooms or occasions and quick enough to enjoy putting together in an afternoon.

Whether you’re making it for your own home or gifting it to someone special, these pennants offer a unique and heartfelt way to celebrate the season.

Have fun with your colours, papers and wording and you’ll end up with a bunting banner that’s truly one of a kind.