Banner for a little girl's room

Hi there!!

So sorry for the long time without anything new on here in our little piece of bloggy paradise! My eldest daughter who is 3, has been...well, let's say "being a challenge" these past few weeks and leaving me with absolutely NO time to do any crafting let alone time to write something to accompany such crafting!  Please forgive the lapse in time :)

I wanted to make something for Isabella's (my 3 year old) room.  I wanted it to be a bit more personal for her and pretty it up a bit (it used to be my nephew's room so it's a bit boy-ey with the blue walls :))

Plus, I'm crazy-mad in love with banners.

This is what I've been up to:

Here is Isabella's new banner :) 

This is how I did it:

First I took some material that we call Calico but in the USA, Europe etc I'm not sure, it's what you'd use to put a Christmas pudding (which you probably don't have in the US either!) in or similar.  (It's like a linen but not stiff)

I cut the calico into triangles with my pinking shears--2 layers of material per triangle for double thickness.

Next I stamped the triangles using Hero Arts Dots Cling Stamp,  Hero Arts Flourish Background Stamp, Hero Arts Stripes Pattern Cling Stamp and Hero Arts Large Artsy Circles Stamp using Papertrey Ink Inkpads in Pure Poppy and Hawaaiin Shores. I left a border around the outside to highlight the stamping. Then I sewed the triangles together) the 2 layers of each triangle. But it would be easier to use Glue Glider Pro Fabric Bond (I've used mine all up!)

Next I took some Ranger Studio Sticky Back Canvas and using my Westminster/Sizzix Big Shot Cutting Machine cut it out with a Spellbinders Classic Scallop Oval Large Nestabilities.  (It needed a tiny bit of extra cutting with scissors but if you ran it through your diecutter with an extra piece of cardstock or similar to make a 'shim', it would cut through clean.)

Next I layed the die-cut ovals out on my Ranger Inkssentials Craft Sheet and using repositional adhesive in my Glue Glider Pro, I stuck some letters on top (These were just old cheap chipboard letters that I've had lying around forever. If  I did this project again, I'd use paper/cardstock as the chipboard sat up a bit high and created a ridge.)

Next I painted around the letters to make a mask/negative of the letter using some Kaisercraft paint I had in my stash.

Then I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and Walnut stain distress ink around the edges to give it my usual vintagey look.  (Plus the edging makes the colour and letters stand out more)

see how there's a tiny smudge around the outside of the letter? Using thinner cardstock would prevent this (instead of chipboard)

Next step was to peel the back of the canvas and adhere onto the triangles (I used alternating colours, blue letter canvas on pink banner triangle)

 I felt as though it needed something, so I used a very slim paint brush and painted a thin line around the outside of the stamped area on the triangles (still leaving a plain border).  I also used my We are Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile and set eyelets in the top to thread through string/ribbon.

Here is the finished banner (In two photos so you can see closer up.)

Hope you like it!! I"m really happy with how it came out :) Isabella loves it too "Where did you get that mummy?!" was what she shrieked lol.  She knows the first letter ('I') is for her name so she's happy haha. Beyond that, she just thinks it's pretty!!  That's ok with me though!

Stay tuned because in the next few days I'll be posting a tutorial on how to use the Imaginisce I-top!! (One of my favourite tools!!)

Talk to you soon lovelies!!

Linda