I blame Taina, she introduced me to these adorable banners, and now I'm hooked. She made hers with diecuts from our LSS, but I figured out I have everything I need to make them on my wonderful Cricut Expression! Yippee! (Honey, that's reason #429 why I had to have one)
Supplies- 12x12 coordinated cardstock and printed paper (cuz I have an Expression- you can get 4 shapes per paper of the big scallop, so you can plan from there based on how long your title is)
- Storybook cartridge
- Mini Monograms cartridge
- Cricut
- Ribbon
- Crop-a-dile
** for the sake of this tutorial, each piece of the full banner will be called a unit. I will give directions for one unit and then you just duplicate it for each letter of your title.
Mini Monograms Cuts-
ALL CUTS MUST BE MADE FROM "REAL DIAL SIZE."
1. Cut out a 5 1/4" scallop circle the back for the unit. [I've made banners with all scallop circles, or with a mix of cirlces and scallop squares, it is up to you, just keep in mind that if you mix it up, all shapes have to be mixed up.] [Depending on the thickness of your paper, you might have to back everything with chipboard. It also matters whether or not you want this to be a permanent banner, or a temporary one. With Sarah's I just made sure the printed papers had a cardstock behind them to make them heavier. With one I made yesterday, they all have chipboard behind]
2. Cut out a 4 1/4" circle for the second unit layer. [this would be the square shape, if you did squares]
3. Cut out a 4" circle for the third unit layer. [this is usually where I use the print]
**you can use any size really, just keep the ratios about the same.
Storybook Cuts1. Cut out your banner title at 3 1/2" in an easy to read cardstock [I usually use a dark color for this, so it's easy to read against your prints. I've done some where the color is the same for the whole title, or with the Sarah May one, I mixed up the colors, it makes it just a little more challenging when putting everything in order to change up the colors]
2. Cut out your banner's shadow at 3 1/2" in a lighter cardstock [I have always used white, it really helps it pop.]
Finishing it off1. I usually play around with order before I glue anything down. You want to make sure you don't have two of the same prints next to each other or two of the same backgrounds, etc.
2. Glue pieces together.
3. Lay them next to each other and then use your Cropadile to punch holes on the sides of each unit.
4. Use ribbon to attach units together.
5. Use longer pieces of ribbons on the ends of the entire banner to provide an attaching part.
If any of that is unclear, let me know. I can clarify.
I picked a focus print, which you can't really see well in the wreath, but it's black background with a whole lot of colored flowers on it. Then I bought a few other mono-color prints to go with it and some toole. All of the ribbon, I already had. Oh, and I bought the wire frame in Utah over Spring Break. Here's what it looks like on my front door.
(Please don't look closely at my dusty door- it's been really windy lately and I have issues with doing outside chores.) After finishing it up, here's what I've learned about this project. It doesn't take as much fabric as I thought it would. Also, I would stick to only a few colors in a focus print. I think mine is a bit too busy. Taina's valentine garland is all red, white and pinks, so I would stick with an easy pair or trio like that. Maybe I'll make some different holiday ones- however, I do already have holiday door hangers for the year....so we'll see. Overall, though, I'm pretty darn happy with how it looks!
