Birthday banner

Banners are a quick and easy way to decorate for a special occasion. And if you make your own banner, you can also customize it to match a certain color combo, to coordinate with a party theme or to include the recipient's name. Here is a birthday banner I made a few weeks ago.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Essential Messages (Hero Arts)
Card stock: On the Bright Side - One 6" x 6" designer paper pad (My Mind's Eye); Salt, Papaya Puree Dark, Honey (Bazzill); Manila Card Blue (The Paper Company); red, green (unknown)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, fine-tip black pen (Sharpie)
Accessories: Scallop circle punch, 1/16" hole punch, 1/4" punch (unknown), Owl Builder punch, oval punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, 1-1/4" square punch, Lace Ribbon Border punch, Perfect Pennant Bigz die, black glitter brads and 3 mm red brads (unknown), white crochet thread (DMC), white polka dot ribbon (unknown), orange grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts Elements ribbon - Funhouse), paper crimper (Fiskars), Dimensionals, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue

To make each balloon, I used a circle or oval punch to create the basic shape. With the Owl Builder punch, I punched out the owl's foot from the same card stock and glued it behind the bottom of the balloon to make the "tail."

For the greetings, I stamped the words on strips of card stock and used a square punch to create the notch at each end.

Using a fine-point black pen, I made faux stitched lines around each pennant, scalloped circle and focal image.

To make the bow on the present, I punched a strip of card stock with the Lace Ribbon Border punch. I cut out two of the flower shapes from the punched strip, crumpled them a bit, folded them in half and attached them to the present with a brad.

To assemble the banner, I punched a 1/16" hole in the top two corners of each pennant and threaded crochet thread through the holes. Tip: Don't cut the thread off the skein until you have all the pennants attached and spaced the way you want them. And remember to leave some extra thread on each end to hang the banner.

Between each of the pennants I tied a small piece of ribbon to keep them separated.

I haven't used this banner yet, but I think I'm going to save it for October. Then I'll probably just leave it up the entire month since our family has one birthday after another! Thanks for stopping by!