DIY Watermelon Medallion Banner

Nothing says summer like watermelon! Learn how to make this festive watermelon banner for your next summer party. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to paint your own banner.

Hello Crafty Friends! Nothing says summertime like watermelon! This Watermelon Medallion Banner was so fun to make and the best part is how cool and refreshing it looks – especially on a hot day like today!

I have been experimenting lately with painting on paper before turning it into a medallion. I tried this technique out before on my Fourth of July Medallion wreath I posted about last week. This watermelon banner was similar, except I used watercolor paper and painted simple horizontal stripes with watercolor paint. The effect once the paper was folded was perfect!

I first got the idea to make a watermelon banner after coming across a cookie video from SweetAmbs showing how to make watermelon cookies. Ambers cookies are so beautiful they inspired me to try making watermelons from paper!

DIY Watermelon Medallion Banner

Video Tutorial

Supplies Needed

• • Watercolor paint – pink, light green and dark green
    • I used Cotman Watercolors: Rose Madder Hue, Sap Green, Hookers Green Dark
  • Watercolor paper – you can use either a Large Watercolor Paper Pad or a Small Watercolor Paper Pad 
  • Paint brushes, water and a paper plate or palette
  • Thin black marker
  • Scissors
  • Scoring board
  • Hot glue
  • 1/8″ wide pink ribbon

Painting the Watermelons

Step One: Start by cutting your watercolor paper into 2″ strips. I used large sheets of watercolor paper so each of my strips was 20″ wide and was enough to make one medallion. I cut 7 strips of paper to make 7 medallions. If you are using watercolor paper from a smaller pad, cut two strips of paper for each medallion so they will be long enough.

I made 4 “inside watermelon” medallions and 4 “outside watermelon” medallions that were then strung together to make a fun banner!

For the “inside watermelon” medallions, start by painting the bottom half of each paper strip with the pink watercolor. Paint the top of the paper with light green, leaving a space of white in between the green and pink. Add dark green paint along the very top of the paper in a thin line.

For the “outside watermelon” medallions, paint the entire strip of paper light green and then sporadically add horizontal stripes of dark green.

Below are my strips of paper all painted and ready to be turned into medallions!

How to Form the Watermelon Medallions

To turn the strips of paper into medallions, start by scoring the paper every 1/2″. I love using a scoring board and stylus because it goes super fast and it creates nice crisp folds. Below you can see my Martha Stewart scoring board, they have discontinued this one but I love this larger scoring board from EK Tools. 

After scoring the paper, accordion-fold it!

Add watermelon seeds with a thin black marker. I waited to do this until after I had accordion-folded my strips of paper so that I could make sure none of my seeds ended up on the top of the folds. 

Cut small squares of green paper, about 1″ x 1″. Glue the ends of each accordion strip together, creating a tube. Squeeze hot glue onto a green square. Then position the accordion-folded strip over the center of the green square. Push the tube down onto the glue square. Hold it in place until glue is dry.

Create the Banner

If you plan to turn the medallions into a banner, poke two holes in the top. I used the pointy end of my stylus. Thread ribbon through the holes and your banner is complete!

We have this banner on our mantle and it is so cheerful and refreshing! Try making my Watermelon Summer Welcome Sign to go with this watermelon banner – they look super sweet together. You can also check out my Summer Craft section for more fun project tutorials. 

Watermelon Welcome Sign