NaNoWriMo! + CPS #141

oh hey! well, i have something awesome to share with you today--it's my first banner EVER!

(also, if you haven't entered my blog-o-versary giveaway yet, then go HERE now!)

now, i had this idea in my head for school--i have a couple of students who are participating in NaNoWriMo with me (National Novel Writing Month--see more on it in my post HERE), and i wanted to do something special to encourage them...

so, with the help of my amazing Cricut, some new CK goodies, and the CPS Sketch #141 (and kind of a Caardvarks challenge, although this isn't a card [i'll make a circle card to post, i promise!]) i embarked on this journey of my first banner ever.

now, with 9 letters to create the word on the banner, i knew i wouldn't have any room for extra "in-between" spacer spots... so i decided i need my banners to be quite big to fit all the embellies i wanted to include.

so first i gathered all the supplies i needed, and broke out the blue card stock that i wanted to use as the foundation for my letters--i used the Simply Sweet Cricut cartridge to create the bases, as well as the letters (using white paper with the shadow feature, and then a *shiny* blue for real letter).

so here you can see the close-ups of each of the parts--i had sooo much fun making this, and even though it took a while (hey, i was watching Love Actually with my sister, Cecelia, too!) it was sooo worth it.

i have to tell you where i got some inspiration--Mish of PTI fame! she has been featuring some amazing mini-kits of office type paper supplies, and they've been so stinkin cute! :D and since this banner was going to hang in my classroom, i thought that things like paper clips, rulers, etc would be appropriate :D

i bought some October Afternoon goodies at CK, and one thing included the stamp set that has a ruler in it--had to use it here :D ooh, and that border punch that i've been eyeing for a while--it was a total deal at CK too!

you can see some of the bling i got at CK last weekend--i cut apart some of the pieces--they were way to huge to use on these banner bases, and i want to hoard them for a little while longer (good thing i got them in triplicate--hehe!)

see how shiny that blue letter is? it's from the DCWV Citrus Glitter stack, and i LOVE it! i wish i had a couple more pieces of that paper--it's fabulous.

and the felt, brads, and pencil paper are all buys from CK--couldn't wait to get home and use them. O.M.Gosh. can i just tell you that i am in love with Cosmo Cricket paper? it almost hurt me to use this stuff, but honestly, it fit the theme perfectly, so i de-hoarded :D the felt from CK came in packs of four 12x12 laser cut sheets with all these neat-O designs--i've already used some of the pink border for another card HERE.

these brads are velvety--i wanted to use a lot of texture on every single panel, and i think i love this "a" letter the best--or maybe not ;)

i think that the girls in my class loved these buttons the best--the yellow one is from DeNami Design, and the others are from my stash. here's another piece of the felt!

ooh, and here i'm using a yo-yo fabric circle (isn't that what they're called?) to embellish this second "n."

i don't think you can *EVER* go wrong with pompoms!

another close up--you can see some October Afternoon dictionary paper--it made some of my students do a double take :D

okay, so i got these little packs of pins that i'll be using more on cards--sticking them in ribbon, etc--aren't those little stars adorable?

another ruler on the "o" and some flowers--Bazzill and prima. more felt too :D

i really really love that ruler stamp--i can totally see myself using it over and over again.

okay... the "w" was the midpoint of the banner, and even though i didn't consciously plan this, i think it's my favorite panel of all. i grabbed a golf pencil out of our junk drawer at home and decided to use it here. then there's the bling...

and the felt/ ribbon keeping the pencil together...

and seriously--we're talking about NaNoWriMo here--WRITING! how perfect can you get? i would venture to say, you cannot!

some ric-rac, felt, brads, and a shiny heart cut with my Cricut (same cart.)

this is the "r." you might be wondering what i used to string this all up together--i used some thrift store bolt of trim--it had at least 7 yds of this white, and i thought--i can use this for somthing... right i was!

that flower, button, and felt heart pairing is just too cute, agreed?

ooh, here's the "i" where i used some bigger bling, a broken blue clothespin (w/ ribbon) and a chipboard piece :D

and omgosh--i tricked this next panel out with bling... cutie paper clip ($1 store!) and some more bling, Cosmo paper, and felt...

that crown is so top heavy--can you imagine if it was lifesize how expensive that crown would be? hehe :D

and last but not least, the "o."

i went slightly simpler--those buttons are just the perfect touch, i think.

here's a board-side view of the end of the banner...
when my students walked into class and saw this hanging on the whiteboard, they went up close and examined it--one of the girls asked me "Did you cut that out of a dictionary?!" regarding the October Afternoon paper (cause i'm an English teacher and cutting up a dictionary would obviously be sacrilege! :D hehe). the best part was when they asked me about it, and said, "Who made that?" and i got to reply, "I did." the look of awe on their faces was priceless :D and then there were a ton of girls who said, "Can you make me one?" hehe... they'll be papercrafters yet!

thanks for looking, and please let me know if you enjoyed this banner and whether you'd like to see more of them here on the blog.

hope you have a great day! XOXO