My new favorite little accent on a card or page are mini banners. There are various forms of them out there now, from flag banners (probably the most popular one) to rectangular banners, to shaped banners, like the new butterfly paper garland we just got from American Crafts! Too cute!!
But the one I seem to go to a lot is the rectangular one with a notch cut out of it, and I'm going to show you an easy way to make them! You can use them in groups or by themselves. They look great turned sideways with a fun sentiment stamped across them on a card, or as a background for a title on a page. I used them in a group across the front of this Spring card for this weekend's Spring/Easter Card Class.
There are two ways to make them. You can do it with fine tip scissors, or a square punch. Almost any size square punch will work, as long as you get it even, but we will get into that further down this post. ;) Here I used a 3/4" punch.
To make them with fine tip scissors, cut a straight line diagonally from one corner to the middle. I usually just eyeball the center but if you want to get super fancy you could measure it and mark it with a pencil. I'm not so good at measuring and don't like to fuss with it, so I just eyeball it. :)
You'll repeat the same thing on the other side.
And there you have your little banner. Do this on the the opposite edge of a longer rectangle for a nice horizontal banner for your titles/sentiments! This one was made using "Blush Dotted" paper from the My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 2 collection.
A quicker, easier method is with the square punch. You'll want to turn your punch upside down so you can see what you're doing.
Place the bottom edge of your paper halfway into the square, making sure to line up the edges so the point of the square is in the middle of your paper (as pictured below).
Then just punch it and voila! A mini banner. :) This one was made using "Heart Song" from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Collection.
Both methods are pretty simple and fun, and they make a great addition to your layouts. Leave them straight and crisp like a flag, or wrinkle them up and distress them for a more textured look.
You can use them on more than just pages and cards....think "party decor" and use them as labels! How cute would they look wrapped around toothpicks and stuck into hors d'oeuvres or cupcakes?!
Just make sure you are careful with your punches. They can take a toll on your fingers when you do too many! This is what happens when you punch 60+ mini banners....yikes!
I hope you learned something new and got a little bit of inspiration for your craft projects! We would love to see your creations using this technique, or something similar! You can post a link to your own pic in the comment section, or post it directly to our Facebook Fan Page!
Happy Scrapping!
-Jess
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