Hello friends, and welcome back to the Cardstock Warehouse Blog. I am Neftali here with you today to share a fun banner I created for my son’s back-to-(home)school mini photoshoot. As many of us parents are taking on the new school year at home, I was determined to record this very special moment. My son is just starting Kindergarten, so this was extra special, despite all of the school changes throughout this season.
So, in my best form of doing so, which is taking photos of course, I wanted to come up with a clever and fun way to celebrate my son’s first day of Kindergarten right from home.
I took to my paper stash and grabbed so many awesome colors to create this fun banner and props.
Let us dive into the details on how I created this fun quarantine style banner photo prop and a few extra pieces which include a name tag and a pencil holder.
Below is a full list of all the supplies I used. You are free to get creative with this project, so don’t be afraid to switch it up at any time:
- Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock Papers in all of the school coordinating colors:
- Nightshift Blue, Sirio Ultra Black, White Birch Wood Veneer, Smart White, Yellow Glo-Tone, Blue Glo-Tone, Real Grey Colorplan, Bagdad Brown Colorplan, Candy Pink Colorplan, Orange Fizz, Sour Apple, Wild Cherry, and Gumdrop Green.
- Electronic Die Cutting Machine
- School Themed Cutfiles - these are the ones I used
- School Bus
- Pencil and Apple
- Books
- Notebook Paper
- Scissors
- Yarn (color of choice)
- Yarn Ball Maker
- Banner Punch Tool
- Adhesive: glue pen, foam tape, double-sided tape
- Twine
Let’s get started!
A banner like this can be very simple to make, but it can also get as intricate as you’d like. I’d like to think that the one I made is right in the middle. Enough interest to make it cute, but not too difficult to execute.
I started by cutting all of my cut files. I always use the Silhouette Design Studio to pick out my cuts. But mainly, all you have to do is choose school icons that you find think go with the theme you’re working on, in this case, “school/learning/books.” I used a large arrangement of colored cardstock that matched up with each item. Most school-themed colors are basic primary colors and the shop is loaded with colorful selections.
The cutting was the longest of the process. Once that was done I put all my bits together and finished off the cut files. They look great on their own, and like I said this could make a simple banner, but I really wanted each one to pop off a backing.
I then brought out my Banner Punch Tool, to create some pennant banner cuts. This tool is very easy to use and it helps create your banners in no time. I added each cut file to each pennant with foam tape for some fun dimension. For one of the pennants, I added the cutest quote I could think of to go with our homeschooling, “Home Sweet Home School.”
Also, to enforce the holes, I did use my crop-a-dile tool to add some eyelets to each of the holes on all of my pennants.
The next step was to create some pompom balls to add a fun kick to my banner. There are super simple ways to create this, but I like to use my PomPom Maker. They sell these in all kinds of sizes so you can make super cute tiny pompoms or really huge ones. I went with a small size and created enough pompoms to wrap around each of the pennants.
Finally, I grabbed some twine and I looped it around each pennant, while adding the pompoms in between each one, and here are the final results on the first day of school!
I must add that to finish off my little setup here I also cut out two extra things for the setup. For my son's name, I created a cute little name tag, like on the first day of school.
I also created a cute little pencil holder, which you can see below. Doesn’t it look great?
I absolutely loved the results and I was proud of how special this moment was for myself and my son starting distance learning Kindergarten from home. I know that it can be quite sad to have things be so different this year, but it doesn’t mean we still can’t cherish the moments that we do have. This moment, in particular, was very special in my heart and I’m glad I mixed in my craftiness because the results were perfect!
Thanks for stopping by today, crafty friends. I hope that you have all enjoyed this process and that you too, enjoy your little and big moments with creativity and gratitude during this season of life. If you get crafty with our Cardstock Warehouse papers, please share with us as we love to see what you create! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Thanks for being here, and I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness. Xo
Neftali
1 comment
Adorable! Such a creative idea!