The Lochness Monster. The Abominable Snowman. UFOs. Personal cutting machines like the Cricut or Silhouette.
Some people believe those things exist, but I cannot verify. I’ve heard tales of these “personal cutting machines” – space-agey, Jetson’s-era gadgets which actually cut your designs out for you without the use of primitive stone-age tools like scissors, but I can’t be sure if they’re real, because I don’t personally own one.
So when I decided to make banners for a baby shower and for Weston’s birthday party, I had to actually construct them the old-fashioned way, and here’s how that went down.
First, find yourself some fancy little scrapbook paper. This is the pack I used for Weston’s banner:
Choose a piece of paper for each letter you’ll need. Let’s start with this one, because it’s pretty:
You’ll need circles for this, and since cricuts don’t exist, I recommend the ol’ flip-the-paper-over-and-trace-a-bowl technique. My circles are about 6 1/2 inches wide.
(I’m not actually left-handed. I tried to recruit my toes for this job, but they were busy knitting a sweater.)
Cut out your circle. This very helpful photo demonstrates what it looks like to cut out a circle. You’re welcome.
Continue cutting out circles until you have one for each letter. Stack up all your circles and, using the first as a template, punch holes in them all.
Now for the letters. For Annabelle’s banner, I wanted the letters to be all white, so I used Photoshop to print each letter in light gray backwards, then cut it out and flipped it over so there was no visible outline. This font is called minya nouvelle, and each letter is about 4 inches tall.
For Weston’s banner, all-white letters wouldn’t have stood out enough on some of the lighter-colored circles, so I printed them out with a black outline.
If you don’t have Photoshop to make your letters, you could just use Microsoft Word for this step. While you’re there, you should consider rocking some pretty radical Word Art, circa 1995.
Given the chance to create Word Art in 1995, this is definitely what my 5th-grade self would have created. Did anyone else have a SuperCrush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas? Come on.
(No? Me neither.)
(No? Me neither.)
String ‘em all up and hang ‘em. I stuck thumbtacks in the underside of my mantel, and tied the twine to those. Step back and admire your handiwork.
Finally, find ways to drop subtle hints to the world that any stray personal cutting machines which needed a good home would be very welcome and could live a happy life here in this house.
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Hi, I'm Kelly. Glad you're here! This little blog is where I chronicle our efforts to fix up our beaten-down home on a tiny budget. We're not there yet, but here's a peek at the view along the way...
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THANK YOU!!!! I have to admit, I get a little angst-y with all the super fancy tutorials using super fancy (and expensive) tools. A lot of folks just don't have over $200 (on sale!) to drop all at once. So, bravo! Great tutorial!
Love it! I'm over all the tutes on the cutters
{I'm just jealous of them I know}
Really cute! I give you kudos for finding the time to hand make your own banners. I've looked at those machines and think the price its just crazy!
While I do love your super-craftiness, I feel slightly threatened by your common interest in JTT. So tread lightly
HA! I don't know how I missed this post in the first place. I snickered like 14 times as I read this. I love my Cricut but wouldn't have it if my in-laws hadn't given it to me. I'll ask them if they would like to give one to you, too.
Your banner is adorable!
Hey
Cute tutorial, I love your banners! I too laughed several times while reading it – love your humor! I am also trying to convince someone (my darling husband) that I am in dire NEED of a cutting device. He agrees, but says that it will be outdated by the time I buy one and have a spare minute to use it (we have a 10 month old little cutie) haha! ….okay he is right and they are super expensive just for the machine, then you need mats….cartridges….paper….tools….ahhhh! Oh well off to grab my handy scissors and glue stick…. 
We’ve had the same block letters on a colored paper (5 1/2 x 8 1/2) for about 10 years. I was just looking at them for the big birthday coming our way Friday and they are just plain worn. So here we go! I LOVE your design and will very happily embrace it. I’m blessed with the 21st century gizmo, the Silhouette so my cutting will be a little quicker, but I’ll be right there, hole punch and string! Fantastic! Beautiful and fun for the 14 year old girlie!