Craft Banner for 1 Year Old's Circus Party

Ruby blowing out the candles on her Circus tent cake at her first birthday party. Some clown holding her.

Shapes cut using Couture Creations nesting dies and Cuttlebug.

First Birthday Banner

Sunday was my daughter’s first birthday party with a circus theme. I had to create something special for her. Every month for the past eleven months of her life I have taken a photo of her with her teddy bear on our old oak, red linen covered armchair. Same bear, same chair, same girl one month older each time. From helpless bemused infant propped in a pillow to feisty, yelling character spilling out of the chair with energy I’ve watched her change. Now I want to celebrate it in a banner. 

Craft Banner Tutorial using Nesting Dies

Having never made a banner before I thought I’d do a practice banner. So I started with a four letter banner spelling out her name. Once I got the hang of it and realised how easy the cuttlebug makes it I was brave enough to commit to twelve more scalloped shapes for the backgrounds and twelve circle shapes for the monthly photos. Incidentally now would be a great time to buy a cuttlebug if you don't have one as the Scotties online Mega Mid Summer Madness sale is on till 2/3/2014.

Step One: First I cut out the scalloped circles in American Craft card stock in Rouge using Couture Creations scalloped nesting dies.

Step two: Next I cut out circles of  Die Cuts With a View mat stack  in two alternating  patterns using the Couture Creations plain circle nesting dies in a size smaller than the red scalloped circle. You could also use Spellbinders circle nesting dies. My circus theme colours were red, black, yellow and white so I was looking for anything in those colours in dots and stripes.

Step three: Finally  I stuck on poster letter stickers from my stash to spell out the name. Some that could work nicely are Kaisercraft Hello Sunshine stickers. Then I attached the smaller patterned circle to the red scallop shapes using dimensional tape so they would stand out and have a little dimensionality. Self Adhesive foam squares would be good for this. I used a hole-punch to put two holes in each circle and strung some ribbon through. Easy!

The first half of the banner showing months  1-6.

And voila! My party guests could see a little snapshot progression of my gorgeous little bundle getting bigger. And I found a way to celebrate her birthday through my love of craft.

The second half of the banner showing months 6-10. 11 and 12 not pictured here.

The name banner hanging on her cot with instagram filter on image.

More from this author can be found at: http://crafterlala.wordpress.com/