My little Boo is turning two next weekend, and I always knew I wanted to have a monster party for her. I know it’s kind of the “it” party to have right now, and for some reason, I was never really interested in what all the cool kids were doing. I wanted to do something different, my own. However, my little Boo is exactly that – a little monster – and we always call her that. For some reason, our first daughter was a “princess” and this one is a “monster”. I better not get psychoanalytical on that.
I’ve been making everything for her party, so I thought why not share each piece one by one, and then show you it all together lastly at the party? That way I have less to explain once the party has happened. So here’s the first thing I made – it’s for the food table backdrop. (Our party will be outside, by the way, in our backyard, so it better not rain!)
I saw “photo buntings” on pinterest, which were photos kinda attached to a ribbon or twine and strung like a banner. I decided I really wanted a pennant bunting, so I incorporated the two and here’s the result:
I love it. Love with a capital L. I am sure that someone, somewhere has created something like this and has a tutorial on it but I totally flew by the seat of my pants on this one, so in the event that it doesn’t exist elsewhere, here’s the info on how I made it, so you can too! Here is what you will need:
If you would like patterned paper between your pictures, you will need that as well. They some how escaped from this picture, but I used three different patterns (two relatively simple- dots and stripes, so it isn’t too competitive, and a monster print).
I cut the pennants out of 12×12 cardstock in the party colors (which are basically bright rainbow – red, yellow, orange, lime, aqua, and purple). I did this on my cardstock but it would be easy enough to do by hand. They measure 6″ across the top and 8″ down the side. I found that if you laid out your paper like this
You could get 3 pennants out of the 12×12 paper, and if you are cheap resourceful like I am, you can easily join the two ends together and make a fourth by taping the backs together. You couldn’t even see the slit in mine, especially with the paper and photos over top.
I printed a picture of my daughter at every month for the past two years, so I had 24 pictures. Once I laid them out, I decided I wanted a coordinating cardstock from the rest of the party in between each picture. That meant my banner would be 48 pennants long, and I really wasn’t have THAT much food. So, I used a picture for every two months, leaving me with 12 pictures and 12 pieces of patterned paper (which by the way is printed on my home computer with digital scrapbooking papers from Just So Scrappy).
I measured the first picture and then used it as a template for all of the others. I laid my pennant on top of where I wanted the picture to sit (both on the pennant and “centered” on the face of the photo) and marked it with a pencil. The pencil leaves a little white line where it scratches.
I cut the first one and then used it kind of like a stencil to mark all of the others, as well as the patterned paper (which I traced on the back so it wouldn’t show any lines).
My patterned paper was 8.5×11, since I printed it on my home computer, and I could get 4 trapezoid shapes on it, which was just what I needed.
After all of the shapes were traced, I cut them all out. When I placed them on the pennants, I decided I needed a neutral to separate the color and the picture. (I don’t know why I do this, but I do it with everything, even my clothes. If I am going to wear a colored or printed shirt, I always need to wear a neutral tank that shows a band at the bottom of my shirt to separate it from my pants. It’s weird, but it’s what I do.) So, I cut little strips of white cardstock that were about 3/4″ wide.
It really doesn’t have to be exact, since only about 1/2″ ended up showing, but it’s important to keep it straight. I’m sure my Silhouette would have done a fine job of cutting these, but honestly, I was too lazy to go turn it on. I attached it to the top and bottom of each trapezoid with double sided tape.
Lastly, I cut the strips so that the angle of the photo continued on the white strip, and then attached the photos to the pennants, again using double sided tape. If there was any overlap with the pictures, I just flipped it over and trimmed away the overlap.
To string them together, I punched a hole in each corner, and strung them on a long black ribbon, leaving some on each end to tie once it’s hung on the backdrop.
And voila! You have an awesome photo bunting banner. I will leave you with a couple more shots, for creative measures however, and not because I think my baby is adorable!
Shatzi @ Love and Laundry says
LOVE!! Such a creative idea! Great job. =)
Maria says
Ohh this is cute! Banners are such a sweet way to decorate, and I love the addition of the photos to personalize it!
renee @ Singing With Birds says
Cute, cute, cute! Love the addition of kiddos.
Amy says
awww SUPER SUPER CUTE! 🙂 thanks for sharing! stoppingby from the Blog Hop! 🙂 🙂
Aimee - ItsOverflowing.com says
Totally Perfect!!! I’d love to have you share at my party…it JUST opened!!!
http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2012/04/overflowing-with-creativity-19.html
XO, Aimee
Pamela says
New follower here from Sunday Bloghop. Come visit and hopefully follow. Great blog! LOVE the banner idea!
Jenn Lifford says
So cute! I love all of the rainbow colors. Hope your daughter has a great day!
Your newest follower, Jenn 🙂
Crafty Mischief says
Too cute! I love that you used pictures!
Alyssa says
This is such a cute idea. I have taken pictures of my son every month and wanted to hang them at his first birthday party, this is the perfect way to do it. Thanks for the tutorial!
I would love if you would share this and any other posts at Showcase Your Talent Thursday http://whatscookinglove.blogspot.com/2012/05/showcase-your-talent-thursday-5.html. I hope to see you there!
Laura says
Amazing- I love this. What a wonderful way to showcase photos!
shortpocketsnumbertwo says
This is adorable! If I am amitious enough, I am going to copy this for my son’s first birthday party next week. I have monthly photos as well, so I could probably cut the length in half or insert other filler photos. Thanks for sharing!