A Very Special Graduation Banner

Hi Friends and Fellow Crafters! Today I have another banner to share with you. This one was truly a labor of love, I used everything but the kitchen sink to create it!

I was not blessed with biological sisters, but I am doubly blessed because I have 5 of the most beautiful friends that are just like sisters to me. This banner is for my niece, one of my BFF's daughter, who graduated from the University of Colorado. Lucky for me, she stayed there after graduating so that gave me more time to finish the banner before she came back home. She is an amazing young woman and I wanted to make her a banner that was like her, unique. I decided to do something entirely different from the usual graduation banner and this is the final product. I will try not to get too much into the details since this post is so picture heavy, but I will list everything I used at the end.

 

 I used CTMH Kraft Paper to cut the base of the banners. The papers I chose for the mats are from Prima's Rock On Love & Rock Out Bro collections. The banners are from Pretty Pennants cut at 6x7 inches. The graduation cap is from Wrap It Up and the 2012 is from the Cricut Alphabet. The hearts were in my stash, but I changed their look by covering them with Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, then adding some distress inks and Martha Stewart coarse glitter. I am not 100% sure where the hearts came from, but they may be from the Cricut Essentials. The tassel is from Pink Paislee.

 

. I used lots of DCWV Glitzy Glitter papers too. I had some pretty Prima rosettes laying around, so I finally put some of them to good use! I also dug into my Washi Tape stash and used some strips across the top of this pennant. The oval mats for the letters on every pennant are cut from Home Decor at 4.5 by 3.3 and embossed using my cuttlebug with a sizzix big dot folder 

 The letters are all from Out Of Character, cut at about 2 inch width. I found the pretty stars on Creative Memories - Be Young. They are various sizes from around a half inch to an inch and a half.

 I love those hearts. They are from Don Juan. A button and some twine dress up the biggest heart. They are also various sizes.  The letter is glammed up with some Imaginisce Bling. The butterfly is a cut from my stash that I dressed up with Tim Holtz Paper Tape, Viva Decor, Wire and Martha Stewart Coarse Glitter.

 I found the compass on My World. I cut it back when we had the free week to use it on CCR. The arrows are wooden stickers from Pink Paislee. I colored them with Distress Ink and spritzed them with Tattered Angels Gold Glimmer Mist.

A close up of the arrow.

 For the last day of school, I sent in some summer treats. The lizard is left over from them. It is embossed and has Viva Decor eyes. The key is from my stash and the Ribbon is another Pink Paislee sticker.

 Here is where the Imagine Word Of Mouth quotes start coming in. I printed the quote and popped it up on the pennant. The flower is from my stash. The stick pin is from a swap I was in. It was one of the 1st pins I made, but was cast aside for a different version.

 Some More Pink Paislee chipboard stickers and another Word Of Mouth Cut.

Since I knew the pennant after the letter S was going to be well adorned, I kept this one very plain using only a rosette on the bottom.

This is the 1st pennant I created for the banner. It has so many different cuts on it. Many of them were already in my stash. My niece loves sunflowers, so I included a couple of them. The idea for this sunflower is from Elizabeth at 217 Creations from a layout she did at Everyday Cricut. Here is the link to the YouTube Tutorial They are really fun to create. My sunflowers are from Cheerful Seasons and the centers are from Flower Shoppe.

 

How I love Washi Tape! That butterfly has been in my craft stash forever. I am pretty sure it's from CTMH Art Philosophy. I changed the whole look of it using some Washi Tape, distress ink, coarse glitter, Viva Decor pearl pen and some wire from my stash.

The birdcage was also in my stash, but I think it's from Bloom. A butterfly or two might also be from Bloom. LOL! The gorgeous Pin is from the swap I was in. I am pretty sure it came from Cricut Circle member Seisa. The Soar ticket is from Tim Holtz.

Why I love Washi Tape!

I printed and colored this wonderful Digi Stamp from Krista at Saturated Canary  that I had picked up for Jessie. I colored her with Copics. I am still getting the hang of creating black, but she turned out OK.  Another coarse glittered, washi taped butterfly,  Prima roses and some bling from my table helped to add some interest to the pennant.

Here is a close up of the image. I need a little more practice with fussy cutting, but it's not too bad.

A pretty crocheted flower that I dyed with Tattered Angels Pink Glimmer Mist and a Pink Paislee brad are the focus of this pennant. I used a couple of swirls from CTMH Art Philosophy instead of leaves under the flowers.

I used another cut from Word Of mouth, can you tell how much I love this Imagine Cartridge! I found the graduation cap cut among my stash, so I layered the phrase on it. I had some left over stars and hearts that I added, then wrapped some twine around the banner for fun. I had the star charm in a dish on my craft table forever, so I added that on too!

 

I wanted to use another digi image on the pennant, so I chose this cute steampunk girl from Krista Smith. I colored her with copics, attempting to pull colors from the paper to match on the image.

Here is a close up.

 

 

Isn't that flower sweet? The sprocket is from Oriental Trading. I used a Viva Decor Pearl Pen in gold to add a little design.

I love this cut from Word Of Mouth. I dressed it up with a couple of tiny brads from Pink Paislee, another  tissue taped butterfly from my stash and a couple of left over Flutterby pieces.

How cute are these little birds? They are from CTMH Artiste. I added a cute twine bow to them.                                                                            

I kept this pennant very simple. I used a cute cut from Creative Memories Be Young and some Flutterby pennants on it.

I knew this last pennant would be my niece's favorite! LOL! I used the same cuts as I did on the 1st pennant, but I added a crisp $100.00 bill as a diploma for her.

 

If you made it all the way to the end, I want to send you a big virtual hug! I know this was a super long post and I think you for stopping by my blog today and looking at my niece's banner.

Designed the letters and compass in CCR and everything else on my Gypsy
Machines: Imagine, Anniversary Expression 2 and Cuttlebug
Cartridges: Word Of Mouth, Wrap It Up, CTMH Art Philosophy and Artiste, Creative Memories - Be Young, Out Of Character, Home Decor, Cheerful Seasons, Flower Shoppe, Bloom, Cricut Essentials, Pretty Pennants, My World, Life Is A Beach and Don Juan.
Papers: Prima, DCWV Glitzy Glitter Paper, Core'dinations and CTMH Kraft Paper.
Other Materials: Washi Tape, Ranger Glossy Accents, MS Coarse Glitter, Tim Holtz Distress Ink and Tissue Tape, Viva Decor Pearl Pens, Wire, Copics, Digi Stamps, Ribbon, Pink Paislee: Vintage Stickers, Brads, Chipboard, Wooden Stickers, Rosette and Tassels. Flutterby's Paper Pennants, Glimmer Mist, Twine, Crocheted Flowers, Metal Embellishments, Prima Flowers, Crystal Flourishes and Rosettes. Stick Pins from my stash, Imaginisce Jewels and tons of love!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen