My parents got me a Cricut for Christmas, and that meant I finally had the right tools to make some of the things I've seen and admired!
I've bought and borrowed some cartridges, and just this weekend made banners for CAM's and WHM's birthdays. CAM is having a Strawberry Shortcake tea party, and WHM, of course, is Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, all the time. If you remember my list, making a banner is item #21!
These banners were inspired by banners I saw on Etsy, and I have to give credit where it is due. If you like mine, the inspiration was banner 1 and banner 2. If you click around on the banner 1 seller's store, you'll also see my Thomas inspiration. I admit: I really used these as a crutch for design this go-round (you might say I stole the colors, but c'mon. There are only so many options for making Strawberry Shortcake or Thomas banners). For future banners, now I really have a sense of how to set the patterns, etc. and pull highlight colors, and I don't think I'd need any crutch.
(Because I know some of you, Mom, will ask this: no, they were not super expensive, and once I got in a groove they didn't even take very long to do. I way over-purchased scrapbook paper because I wasn't sure what or how much I would need, but in the end, I used about $10 worth of paper for each banner -- maybe slightly less if you take sales into account -- and most of the ribbon I already had on hand. But what I bought, I bought on sale again. So figure maybe another $5-$7 on ribbon. The single most expensive thing was the Thomas licensed chip-board accents, and I bit the bullet and didn't even wait for a sale. They don't make Strawberry Shortcake ANYTHING in scrapbooking, so I printed those myself, but I splurged on the Thomas stuff.)
I am not sure the seller would be pleased to know that I saw her idea and did it myself (but isn't that what crafting is, in some part? Seeing something, thinking to yourself, "I can make that," and then making it your own with your own twists?) Well, I made it, and I get to cross something off my list. And I am really proud of how well they came out -- and my goodness, did I learn a lot, too!
Truth be told, I made four banners -- "Happy Birthday" for each kid, and then their names. I'm not posting the names here, but each name banner has an image on each end and the name in the middle.
Here are some photos. As usual, the quality isn't that great. Sorry!
--Jen
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| Don't judge me for my nasty carpet. |
So Cute!!
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