Experiment 2 - Baby Birthday Party Banner

As part of BabyT's first birthday papercraft festivities, I wanted to create one of those cool birthday pennant banners.  But all the ones I've seen online were made from fabric, and I didn't have enough time to learn how to sew.  I thought there must be a way to make one from all of the cool scrapbook paper I had.

So I turned to my trusty friend, The Google, and did a little searching. Just entering 'birthday banner' yielded a bunch of shops with very cheapy-looking vinyl banners and some not very helpful websites with duplicated content. Then I got creative and searched on 'birthday banner tutorial paper' and found Katydid and Kid's most excellent tutorial.  Since she already has lovely pictures and step by step instructions, I'm keeping mine short.

MATERIALS

• Solid colored cardstock


• Patterned scrapbook paper  (coordinating with each other and the cardstock, but different patterns)


• White 8.5" x 11 printer paper


• Curling ribbon

TOOLS

• Martha Stewart Crafts Circle Cutter


• Glue stick


• Crayola Crayons 96 Count - yippee


• Martha Stewart Crafts Circle Cutter

METHOD

1. I searched on dafont.com to find a cute outline font that had upper and lowercase letters.  That site is truly addictive so set a timer, or you'll find yourself still looking at fonts three hours later.  


2. I entered the text into Microsoft Word and increased the size so it would print two letters per page.  I cut out each letter. (Tedious!)


3. Using the circle cutter, I cut 6" circles from the cardstock - one per letter plus a couple of extras,  and then cut slightly smaller circles from the patterned paper (5 inches-ish).  (Very tedious!)


4. I glued the letters onto the patterned paper, then used double-sided tape to tape the patterned paper to the cardstock circles.


5. I, and my friend Kim who volunteered to help, colored in the letters with the 96-pack of Crayola crayons I've been moving from house to house since college.  I was glad to finally use them for something!  I suppose BabyT will eventually inherit them, so it's all good.


6. I punched two small holes in each circle, and used curling ribbon to tie them together.  I finally learned how to use a butter knife to make the ribbons curl, and was mildly successful in getting cute ribbon curls between each letter.


7. I drafted the help of my fabulous husband to hang the banner in our living room, using thumbtacks and embroidery floss.  Everytime T saw it she would point and giggle.

Top and right photos by Kristi Lloyd Photography

SUMMARY and LESSONS LEARNED
This was another project that wasn't technically complex, but took me several days to complete it. Being a mama really cuts down on my uninterrupted crafting time!

• This time I did use the 'assembly line' system and cut all letters, then all circles, then glued, etc. That made the process go a lot faster. I'd definitely spend less time browsing for fonts - I think I ended up back at one of the first ones I chose anyway.


• I would have done a better job at coordinating the papers and the crayon colors with each other - I got too much of an eclectic mix of colors and patterns.  I was trying to avoid being too "matchy matchy", but as a result, it didn't come out very cohesive.  Maybe limiting it to a few colors would have been a good start.


• Next time I might think about printing the letters in color, or using my fancypants Silhouette SD machine to cut the letters out of colored cardstock.  The coloring was fun, but unnecessary.

I've repurposed the banner so that the 'happy' part is hanging in my craft room, and I plan to hang up the 'Trillian' part in her room.  Is this something you might try making?