Sep 4 10
by cara
at 5:49 PM
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Happy Birthday Banner

For The Littlest Apple’s third birthday, I created a Happy Birthday Banner (with a little help from a friend who has requested that her blog handle be “Ross Boss”).  I wanted to make something that could be used not just for The Littlest Apple, but for all future family birthday celebrations.

I love the bright colors of the paper I used!  This is the best picture I have of the whole banner.  We intended to trim the ribbon the left side but got distracted with other party prep.

Love the bright colors!

I used some scrapbook paper purchased about 3 years ago when I thought I would have time to make these amazing scrapbooks to document The Littlest Apple’s life.  3 years later, this is the first time I’ve used this paper.  (You can see more of this paper in the background of the photo in my Apple Pie Scented Playdough post).  LOVE it!

So, Ross Boss and I didn’t really measure anything.  We eyeballed all of it.

First we played “guess and print” until we found a font style and size we liked.  I think we wound up using Font Size 500.  Then we printed out all of the letters we would need.

At this point, we were having trouble figuring out how to get the letters traced onto the solid cardstock.  Ross Boss said “It’s too bad you don’t have one of those cool light table things, so we could just trace the letters onto the cardstock.” And a lightbulb went off in my head…we could use a window. It was pure genius, I tell ya.

Except that it didn’t quite work for the green cardstock.  For the green letters, I just taped the cardstock behind the paper with the letter and cut through both sheets simultaneously.

Next, we glued the white cardstock to the colorful scrapbook paper, then glued the letter on top, leaving room at the top of the cardstock for hole punches.  We used adhesive spray, which works great for projects like this (and I much prefer it to Mod Podge), but Ross Boss and I both learned the hard way that it is REALLY hard to get the spray adhesive off your hands.

I added a rectangle with stars made with a giant star punch to separate “happy” and “birthday.”  I intended to add some stars randomly to the rest of the banner, but didn’t quite get back to that.

Finally, I punched holes at the top a few inches apart (using a regular hole punch) then fed my blue ribbon through, trying to make it lay as flat as possible against the backdrop of the white cardstock.

Now that I’ve entered the world of paper crafts, I can’t wait to make something else with all of the beautiful scrapbook paper.  You know, something besides scrapbooks!

PS.  I also wanted to share a FAIL.  While Ross Boss was working on cutting out the letters for the Happy Birthday Banner, I was attempting to make a Buzz Lightyear Cake, using this cakepan…


Have you ever tried decorating a cake like this?  Well I hadn’t, until this.  I knew it would be tedious, but it was SO DIFFICULT!  I probably should have practice my technique first with a simpler design.  Also, the little insert with the directions and the photo to use as your guide is reversed from the way your cake actually looks.  A few days after this FAIL, I realized I could have rigged up a mirror or something so that the image “matched” what I was trying to decorate.  But my brain kind of imploded while I was trying to do this.  After my cake broke coming out of the pan, trying to smooth it out with frosting (which effectively removed all of the contours of the cake pan), I only got as far as the black outlines (which I kind of just made up as I went along) and filling a few areas before I threw in the towel.  It took me several hours to do that much, and I didn’t even get to the main part of piping in the rest of the colors.  Besides, that was just a practice cake…I was either going to have to do it all over again the night before the party or somehow freeze this cake for a week until the party.  Cake decorating is so NOT my thing.

Poor, deranged Buzz….

We went with hastily decorated cupcakes and cupcake toppers instead.  And they were just fine.

Have YOU ever made a banner?  Have YOU ever used a shaped cake pan like this? What was your experience like?


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9 Comments
  1. Mom of Boys permalink

    I HATE that Buzz pan!! The same thing happened to me a month ago. I ended up making a buttercream transfer which was so much faster and turned out just as cute! But I learned my lesson not to leave the cake until midnight the night before…

  2. So it isn’ just me after all that can’t deal with these cake pans! I’m so intrigued by your buttercream transfer! I’ll have to look in to that next time.

  3. Carrie permalink

    My little guy will be 3 Oct. 10th! The time really does fly! Last year I went all out with a pumpkin patch themed party and it was so much fun. I am SO detail oriented (only for parties :)) so everything had to match. I found pumpkin shaped garland at the dollar store and had my sister make green letter with her banner. I wish I could show you the pic, it came out SO cute. I also attempted to make pumpkin shaped cupcakes. Yeah, right. It lookes so easy when I found a cupcake pan with shaped like pumpkins with leaves and stems. All I had to do was frost them. I laughed when I read your post, I had the same experience. After several tries, a few curses (under my breath of course) and orange shaped crumbly blobs, I ended up at Shoprite where they had a 3D pumpkin cake. It looked cute, but I really wanted to do it myself. The cake decorating class is added to the list of things to do. For now, I’ve enlisted my friend to make a tool box cake for this year. Enjoy!

  4. That banner is GREAT. I hope you can save it for future birthdays. It’s so bright and festive.

  5. Anonymous permalink

    I love your banner sooo much! SOOO CUTE!! I had to laugh at the cake though. IT is funny that you guys are doing a buzz party because that is what we plan on doing as well! You are brave for attempting to make that cake, Im going to take the lazy way and just do cupcakes! 🙂 Thanks for a good laugh though, it was still a cute cake because it was made with love!!
     

  6. Nice collection of birthday banners.I have just bookmarked this page so I don’t miss any more
    of these.I would never have normally come here to read the blogs but I’m really
    glad I did.I will definitely be coming back.

  7. You have made really beautiful banners .Its really a great use of time & raw things.You have done a good job.Keep it up.

  8. Good idea to make the birthday banners.Its looking so creative & beautiful.I am looking for your more updates.Keep them coming.

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