Strawberry Banner

After much deliberation I decided on a "Berry Special Occasion" for my Emily's 2 year old birthday party. To say she loves berries would be an understatement. We didn't want a Strawberry Shortcake themed party and couldn't find ideas online that truly 'sang to me'. So I created a banner, and invitations to jump-start my creative process. By using paper I already had, I spent $0, that's right, absolutely no money, the cost of the materials if I had gone out and purchased them would have been about $3-$5 for the paper. (the cost depends on availability of craft stores in your area)

What you will need for this Project:
      Invitations:
           Printer
           Silhouette Cameo
           Green, black, red and white cardstock (8.5x11 or 12x12)
           Glue Stick
      Banner:
           Silhouette Cameo
          Green, black, red and white cardstock (8.5x11 or 12x12)
          Glue Stick
          Tape
          Yarn

Using my Silhouette Cameo I was able to find a strawberry clipart graphic, save it as a jpeg, and then imported it to Silhouette Studio. From there, I used the trace tool to create a cut-able object. If you would like my banner and invite files (silhouette studio file) for free please contact me to bypass all of those steps.



Here is the Card with all of its components.

Please note that each part needs to be cut separately on its respective color of paper.

I used the print and cut feature to print the wording on the white card, and then cut the cards out. I was only able to to do 2 cards per page. After cutting all components, it is time to glue them together. And its that simple and that cheap!

The steps of the banner are close to the card. Instead of using the double white background, you use the single which is included in my studio file. Again, cut all items out and glue them together.
Now it is time for the lettering. Open a new page and decide what font you want for your banner, I used Maiandra. type out all the letters needed for the banner. After I had cut the black letters, I noticed that they needed something more to ground them. So I cut white backgrounds for them.

First, you need to increase your letter spacing to at least 125, or just use trial and error to find the correct distance so the white backgrounds don't overlap each other. After you have increased your spacing, then use the "Offset" tool. I moved my offset distance to .15 but you can do whatever size you prefer. Once you have the backgrounds where you want them, you can then move the text and cut the letters, then the bubbles!

To finish your banner, after everything is glued, I laid out a long piece of yarn, again something I had in my stash, and just taped it to the yarn. I did it this way so it would be super cheap and easy, and because it is a birthday banner, it does not need to hold up for a long time.

I hope these instructions help you out when making this project or a project inspired by this one. Email me your completed projects, I would love to see them!