Banners for a Happy Birthday Card

I'm a bit late, but I'm jumping on the banner bandwagon!  Here's a look at one card I made:

To start, I trace the banners using this super-cute stencil from the "Come Sail Away" kit from Club Scrap.  I trace on the back side of the paper so my pencil marks won't show.

Cut the banners out using scissors.  Since I'm going to be folding these, I decided not to cut the points on one end.

I stamped letters on each of the banners on the plain side.

On the back side, I placed a score line that will end up about 0.25" above the top of the letter.

Now that I know where I'm going to fold, I cut off the banner so there is about a 0.25" flap on the banner.

Fold the flap.

Use an ink applicator (I love these pan pastel round knife for getting into the small areas on the banner; other tools are handy, too) to ink the edges.

After doing a few of these, I realized that a longer flap on the back would be great to hang onto the banners while inking, so if you prefer, wait to cut your flaps until after you ink the front of your banner pieces.  Attach the banner pieces to a piece of baker's twine using the tiny attacher by Tim Holtz.

One finished banner looks like this:

While you're making one card, it's always better to make two! I just did everything twice, and played with some die cut flowers to embellish the cards up a bit. On this card, I stapled the ends of the twine to the card.

Here is a close up of the finished banner.

My sister-in-law loves blue, so I made this card for her.  The card base is blue, and the ink is blue.  I love making special cards and playing with new techniques and tools.

All of the papers in this card were from the Birds of a Feather kit by Club Scrap.  I love the bright, spring colors in these papers - they make me smile!