Freedom Banner « The Hybrid Chick

Freedom Banner

By Shabby Shaz Friday July 3, 2009

I chose to use the word freedom for this banner being made for 4th of July celebrations. It is a gift for some of my American friends. Knowing their appreciation of the independence that this day signifies in their lives and in their past it seems appropriate.

The banner uses two different digital scrap-booking kits that are perfect for scrapping all your 4th of July photos and are perfect for this project. The kits are Backyard Barbeque from The Hybrid Kid and Freedom Festival by Krystal Hartley who is one of our fab guest designers over at The Digi Chick this July.

Along with those I have also used Star Spangled Templates from Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

You will also need:

Scissors
Pretty Edge Punch
Circle Punch
Hole Punch
Double Sided Sticky Tape
Double Sided Mounting Tape
String or Twine
Curly Ribbon or Twill or Ribbon
Raffia

First I made up the stars. Then in my digital program I made two different triangle templates. One slightly smaller than the other on two sides. I like to print as much as I can on one sheet of A4 paper. There were 4 on one page of the larger size. So I printed 2 of this size. There was one left over which can be used to make a gift tag.

With the smaller one I was able to fit 7 of the triangles, which is the number needed for my particular word, on one page.

Then using one of the elements from the digital kit I created 7 mini circle backgrounds which are topped with each individual letter.

Grab someone to help, and cut out all the triangles and the letters. Also cut out seven circles slightly larger than your designed letter.

I wanted three layers of triangles with one being white. This meant seven large triangles in red, seven large triangles in plain white card and seven smaller triangles in the blue. Use your edge punch to create pretty edges on the white triangles. I have used a Martha Stewart Punch here. Making these white triangles the same size as the larger triangles meant when they were cut down it is the perfect size in between the two coloured layers. The affect I was after is a soft doily edge.

It is also neat to edge all the cut sides with ink – here a medium brown blends nicely. You can see the white, doily edge punched triangles in the photo above. Stick the white layer to the back of the blue layer with double sided tape. Then using mounting tape layer all the other pieces up. Put the letters on the circles. Then the circles on the small triangles and then another layer of mounting tape attaches the red to the white.

There are three layers with the 3d mounting tape for a lot of dimension.

Use a hole punch to cut holes through the top. Thread it onto your chosen string or twine. Here I have used white curtain pull string.

String it on and put a knot behind each hole to stop it moving out of place.

You could leave it just like this if you prefer things with neat and simple lines. Just hang it in front of a mirror or along a shelf.

Or you could dress it up. Take those stars, some raffia, and curly ribbon and start tying them all on. Make bows, and curls and stringy bits, tying them all to the gaps in between the triangles.

Keep going with this step till it pleases your eye. That is one of my favourite things about hybrid crafts – you really can make anything suit yourself, even if you are following someone else project.

Hang your banner and enjoy your celebration!

Happy 4th of July to all our American friends. May you have a wonderful time celebrating your Independence Day.

If you make a banner using this tutorial and any of the products from The Digi Chick please leave us a comment here with a link so that we can come and leave you some love on your project.