20 August 2009

DIY party banner

hello again. and welcome to thursday. do-it-yourself thursday to be exact. am so happy my idea for benji's party banner is coming along. and i love when i can blog what i am crafting at the moment. it's a bit repetitive but oh so validating.

am doing much of the party prep before the weekend since we are hosting a handful of visitors very soon. hip hip. i'm super excited to show them the town, make up fun meals and host a field trip to the highly talked up bulk foods aisle(s). in truth, they are coming less to browse the bulk and more to ride the local 150 mile bike ride with dan this saturday. seriously, this season is surely the summer of road biking. these guys are animals. and i am more than happy to be living vicariously with this one. i'll be the one cooking up the carbo-load supper beforehand. the bulk foods has a wide variety of pasta shapes, i thought it would be cute to have all kinds of noodles and all kinds of sauces. can carbs be cute? i hope so.

onto the tutorial already; PARTY BANNER 101.

type out your letters one or two letters to a single page. (i wanted this banner big, so each letter got it's own 8.5 x 11 paper.) choose a fun font and print them on bright paper. i picked the word celebrate because i think it's a perfect party word. it conjures happiness and it goes for almost every cheery occasion. and mind you, i very much expect us to use this banner for every birthday from here on out. until i get completely sick of it.


cut each letter out with care. you might need to miss bits and pieces of 17 again to assure you do not cut any letters in half. does anyone else think that zac efron is the new jordan catalano? exact twins. use coordinating pretty scrapbook paper to back up the letters. i cut my scrapbook paper to 12 x 6 inch rectangles (just so i could get a two-fer from each sheet). paste them on or use double stick tape. why anyone leaves home without this stuff is my constant quandary.


punch 2 holes in the top of each letter and thread a fancy grosgain ribbon through. i cut about 3.5 yards of ribbon, threaded the middle letter of the word through to ensure centerability on the string. it worked out perfect. oh and did i mention i laminated this baby? i know, i know. but it's gonna be outside and since we are using it for the rest of benji's life, i figured i may as well keep it extra sturdy. i hope lamination doesn't ruin the charm of it. i hope you won't think less of me, maybe i shouldn't have even mentioned it. hopefully when we hang it for benji's wedding day i'll have the last laugh. oh his wife is really going to love all my brilliant ideas.

so there's your Party Banner! now you're ready to hang and celebrate. big time. more photos of the finished banner and event to come. after things settle down around here, i'll create a pdf. file of benji's celebrate banner for my shop. it will then be even easier for you to download and print out, cut out, (and laminate) yourself! happy do-it-yourself thursday.

16 comments:

melissa deakin said...

oh my, miss m.
this is manificent!
you are amazing.
perfect!

Robyn Devine said...

love the banner - such a great idea and something i'm going to have to make for my home and all our future family celebrations!

and i NEVER leave home without double-stick tape, and completely think that carb-heavy food can be fun and festive - go for the shapes!

EliseBlaha said...

you're hilarious.
what a lucky, lucky wife he'll have.

caitlin said...

Okay, I love you for two reasons.

1- You are so smart and helpful

and 2- You just mentioned Jordan Catalano.. seriously Marta you are awesome.

summer said...

i am agreeing with elise, you are hilarious, marta.

have no fear, the lamination step was genius. not to mention the whole banner idea itself. i love it! thanks for showing us how-to. grant will surely be getting one of these someday.

ps. i love how occasionally your toes make it into some of your photos. talk about cute. they are unfailing painted some pretty color and always look so darling.

kh said...

Ah, your little guy is so lucky! What an adorable banner! Of course, I see this after all my kids bdays... I guess I can start planning now for next year!

You always inspire!

Cat said...

my almost 5 month old daugther Julia says she loves the banner and looks forward to finding a special place for it at her wedding to Benji. She thinks you're so clever and fun...a great mother-in-law.

Deidra said...

Have you tried the newest "trail mix" at Winco? It has baby chocolate chip cookies, peanuts, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. When I was checking it out last time I was lucky enough to be in a Winco an employee offered me a generous sample (yes, please!) and I was SOLD! So good!

Hena Tayeb said...

it looks great. love the blue

Little Gray Pixel said...

IMHO no one can touch Jordan Catalano, but Zac Efron is a little hottie ...

I feel WRONG for saying that. I hope he's of legal age.

jessica said...

Love the banner! So cute and totally reusable. And about the pasta, I think a pasta "bar" is a totally fun idea! Fun enough for a non-bike race party.

Lila said...

I love that you have a laminating machine. I have one and I love it. I'm in the process of laminating recipe cards!

Travelin'Oma said...

Benji has no idea what he has created! (The mother of all celebrations.)

PJpanache said...

All of your party ideas have been amazing..thanks for the inspiration!

talesofahummingbird said...

m-i'm working on one right now, the first stages - font shopping. the cutest font i could find was curlz MT in my mac's version of word. what did you use? i'll send you a pic of the final product by next weekend. :)

Rachel Cairns said...

I am SO inspired reading through all of your posts...can't wait to try this one out!

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