How To Make Comic Strip Ribbon

Our Snoopy-themed Christmas tree wouldn’t be complete without the classic comic strip. By following this process, I made the comic strip ribbon I used as garland for this year’s themed Christmas tree.

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Growing up, my grandmother would often wrap our Christmas presents in the Sunday comic section of the newspaper. We called them the funny papers. Did anyone else?

I cherished those memories and how frugal my Grandma was, even at Christmas, reusing everything she could in her home. For my Snoopy-themed Christmas tree, I was inspired to create a comic strip ribbon garland for the tree by reusing the funny papers just like she did.

This project started months ago when I first got the inspiration to put up a Snoopy-themed Christmas tree this year to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Peanuts comic strips. For weeks, I collected every comic section from our local newspaper, which was delivered to our home. We only get the weekend editions, so this took some time. 

Actually, a few months’ worth of collecting newspapers is more like it.

This project is straightforward but takes a little time, effort, and lots of Mod Podge.

I used the Mod Podge for Paper for this project.

First, I made sure that I kept the comic pages of the newspaper intact, including the folded pages. For this project, you will need extra thickness for the end product, so you want to keep the entire folded section of the paper.

Cover whatever surface you are working on with wax paper to prevent the newspaper from sticking to the top of your table.  

I applied a layer of Mod Podge to the inside section of the paper, behind the Snoopy comic strip only. If I had used the entire comic strip section, I would have covered the inside completely, but I only needed one section for my project.

Fold the paper back together and smooth any wrinkles on the top page.  Then, paint a coat of Mod Podge over the section of the comic strip you want and allow this layer to dry.

This will make the ribbon double-thick.

Once that layer is dry, you can cut out the sections of the comic strips you plan to use. 

Flip over the strips and cover the back side of the paper this time.

Now, you should have several cut-out strips of comics that have been completely covered in Mod Podge on all sides and are double-thick. Apply Mod Podge between the layers again if needed.

At this point, I started lining up the comic strips together to make longer strips of the ribbon garland.  I used another layer of Mod Podge on the edges of each small strip to attach them, and also covered the top of the strip again in another layer of Mod Podge.  

I didn’t make a continuous length of garland, but I created several pieces about 2 feet or more. Since it would be used as a garland for a tree, the smaller sections worked best for my idea. 

This can also be a great way to make one-of-a-kind ribbon toppers for gifts.

If you wanted to make something other than comic strip ribbon for a garland, such as a bow, for instance, you would just keep making it as long as you needed for the loops of the ribbon. But for my project, I wanted individual strips for the garland, so I made them shorter. 

The finished strips will have a waxy coating from the Mod Podge but will also be flexible enough to be used as ribbon. If they come apart at the edges, apply more Mod Podge to hold them together again.   

I have another post with all of the whimsical details of my Snoopy Christmas Tree.

This week, I will also post another post about how I created my miniature Snoopy Dog House out of cardboard boxes.

Hugs,

“Such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us. And the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”  Romans 15:4

More Snoopy and Peanuts posts to enjoy:

And Now Peanuts and Snoopy are 75!

Happy 70th Birthday, Snoopy

How to Make Snoopy’s Doghouse out of Cardboard Boxes