Happy Friday everyone! Kim here with my second project as your September guest designer. Today, I would like to show you how I made this stinkin’ cute Christmas banner, using the Under the Tree collection.
In addition to making cards and mini books, I also love making banners. Christmas decorating would not be complete without a cute banner hanging somewhere in my house. It just makes me happy every time I look at it.
Creating banners is relatively easy. Once you know the basics, you will soon be making banners for every occasion.
Here is how I made this Christmas banner…
Step 1: Gather the supplies.
For this project, I decided to use triangle (with scalloped edge) chipboard banner pieces. I painted the edges of each chipboard banner with grey acrylic paint.
My plan for the letters was to cover each one with the shabby white embossing enamel from Stampendous. Before I could apply the embossing enamel to each letter, I painted it with Gesso to prevent the embossing ink from soaking into the chipboard letter. Once dry, I covered each letter entirely with the embossing ink dabber and sprinkled the embossing enamel on top of it. Heat set and voila! The “NOEL” letters now have a white enamel look with a touch of gold. Mission accomplished!
Step 2: Cover each banner piece with patterned papers.
Cover each piece of the banner with various papers from the Under the Tree collection – Cookie Nibbling, Cocoa Sipping, Candle Lighting and Mistletoe Kissing, leaving about a ¼” border around the edges. I then decorated the top of each banner with Christmas ribbons.
The faux stitching on the banner piece was done by gliding the tracing wheel along the edges and connecting the dots with a fine tip black pen. I then punched two holes at the top with a Crop a Dile and reinforced each hole with an eyelet.
Step 3: Make the Rosettes.
1. Cut two 2" x 12" strips of paper and punch out two scalloped (or plain) circles.
2. Score every 1/2" and accordion fold each strip of paper.
3. Join the two strips of paper to make a circle, using a strong adhesive.
4. Make the rosette.
Step 4: Assemble.
Attach the rosette to the banner piece. Attach the letter to each rosette and decorate each banner with elements from ephemera pieces, shape stickers, word stickers and tin pins. Here is a close-up of each banner piece…
I hope you enjoyed my banner tutorial and are inspired to make a Christmas banner this year. I will be back next Friday with my last project as your September guest designer.
Happy Creating!
