Welcome back to the Artisan Wednesday WOW Blog Hop. This is our final month to create as the 2013 Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team. A new design team will be announced at Awards Night at Convention in just a few weeks. It has been an incredible year...one that I will cherish forever. I love my ADT sisters and I am confident that we will always be great friends. Some of the current team will be going on to serve on next year's team but I am not one of them. Although I am sad that this incredible year is coming to an end, I am excited to see what God has planned for me. I am looking forward to my son's senior year of high school. We will be wrapping up our homeschooling experience and making plans for his future...so I will have plenty to keep me busy.
Enough of this sentimental stuff, let's move on to today's project...
We are definitely what you would call a patriotic family. With my husband, his brother, and his sister-in-law all serving in the military you might say that our blood runs red, white, and blue. The first time I saw the Celebration Basic Banner Kit I knew immediately that I needed to create a patriotic version. So let's get started and I will show you how to customize your very own banner.
The kit comes with white letters to spell out the words "celebrate" so you can leave them white, or you can add some bling. It would be easy to just add glitter to the letters, but I opted to trace and cut them from some of the new Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. If you do this, be sure to place the letters face down on the back side of the glimmer paper and trace them with a pencil. Then just cut them out with scissors or an exacto knife.
For each completed star you will need to die cut two stars from cardstock using the new Stars Framelits and the Big Shot Machine. I used the largest star in the set. I wanted to dress them up a little, so I decided to give them the illusion of depth without actually making them pop up. One of the two stars needs to be darker than the other. This was easy to achieve with the red stars...I just used Cherry Cobbler cardstock to create the shadow and Real Red for the lighter areas. Making the blue stars was a little more of a challenge. I have Night of Navy cardstock for the lighter pieces, but the Midnight Muse recently retired...so I had to improvise. I pulled out my handy dandy brayer to layer on Night of Navy ink. (Note: My brayer is stained black from several years of use.)
Next, turn over the lighter star and label each section lightly with a pencil. This will be EXTREMELY helpful when you add the pieces to the darker star base. It also helps to draw a line from each tip to the opposite indention. Do this for all five section. Now you are ready to cut it apart. You will use the "A" pieces to make the lighter portion of the stars. (Save the "B" pieces and you can use those by flipping them over. If you do this, be sure to erase the pencil marks.)
Now you are ready to assemble your star. Apply the "A" piece to the right side of each point using Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue. This will give you a few seconds to make adjustments. It is also great because you can use an adhesive eraser to remove any stray glue after it dries completely.
Now you are ready to assemble each section of your banner. I wanted my banner to have a slightly vintage feel, so I inked the edges of the stars and pennant pieces with Early Espresso ink. I also used Crumb Cake ink to ink the letters. Attach a star to the center of a pennant with Dimensionals. Use mini glue dots to attach the letter to the center of the star. Punch small stars to scatter on the background and attach those with mini glue dots. When you finish, you should have something that looks like this. This star is red, but you get the idea!
Next, use the twine that comes in the kit to string together the pennants. I didn't have any navy ribbon, so I used some fabric from the "homespun" section of the fabric store and cut it into 1"x22" strips. Tie a bow between each pennant and trim off any stray strings.
Finally, find the perfect spot to hang your banner for all to enjoy. I am displaying my banner on the fireplace mantel this Independence Day, but it is great to have around all summer long.
Now head on over to see what my very talented friend, Erica Cerwin, and the rest of the design team has for you this week.