I Love to Create -Black Cat Banner

Today’s I Love to Create Column is a two for one special! Not only do I have a fun Hissing Halloween Banner how-to for you I also have a book review and a contest. That is more like a three for one special!


First things first let’s talk about the books. I have been a fan and a customer of Repro Depot for a good long while now so when I head they had a set of books and stationary coming out there was no doubt in my mind that they would be good. Good was a bit of an understatement. The two Repro Depot Pattern Books in Folk and Floral are chocked full of just that patterns. The fun part is all the patterns also come on a disc making it easy as pie to print these patterns out for craft projects like say a Hissing Halloween Banner. There are actually a few pages of crafty inspiration at the back of the book with ideas for the paper including place mats, greeting cards and light switch covers. I opted to work with all black and yellow and patterns, but there are tons of color options in the book. All the patterns and the colors do seem to have the distinct feel of crafting in the fall of 1973. Each book has oodles of patterns with little people, southwest designs, pears, roosters and even nuts. The forward is by Grace Bonney of Design Sponge giving Repro Depot and the pattern books two thumbs up and we know she has great taste. There is also a set of greeting cards available from the line. The blank cards are adorable as is or would be a great foundation for further embellishments (check out our how-to for Thank You and Christmas Cards). Lucky you we have a set of those greeting cards to give away today, but first you have to check out our Halloween Banner How-to!


SUPPLIES
Repro Depot Pattern Books
Printer
Printer Paper
Scissors
Twinkle Type Letters
Ribbon
Aleene’s Acid Free Tacky Glue Stick
Aleene’s Tacky Transparent Tape for Crafters
Aleene’s Hot Glue Gun
Aleene's Liquid Fusion Glue
Sheet Music
Craft Knife
Cutting Mat
Black Cat Silhouette

CHOOSE YOUR PAPER
It’s a hard choice but you need to choose a theme and color scheme for your banner that will dictate which patterns you choose. I opted for black, white and yellow patterns since my banner was going to have a black cat Halloween theme. Print your patterns onto 8.5 X 11 printer paper with your printer setting on best.


ROSETTES
Yup, it’ an accordion fold just like you did in kindergarten. First trim the white edges off of all of your pattern sheets. Next cut your paper into two rectangular strips. Use your Aleene’s crafters tape to attach the two ends together. Next accordion fold the strips with the folds being about 1” wide. Once you have gotten to the end bring your accordion together and attach the two ends with tape. I also used a glue stick to make extra sure it stuck together. Thanks to everyone who posted instructions on Face Book about making rosettes. I also found the instructions on Paper Source and Dream Create Inspire helpful.

BANNER
Once you decide what shape you want your banner to be and you know that your rosettes will look good with them get to cuttin’. If you want your banner to look pretty from the front and back print out and cut two of each sheets.


MAKE MUSIC
My letters would get lost in the shuffle attached directly to the center of my rosette so I opted for some old sheet music to help make them pop. I used a roll of packing tape as my guide and traced and cut out 6 circles.

HISSING CATS
Since I was making this banner to go with my black cat collection not only did I want the banner to say “Hiss” I wanted to have pictures of hissing cats to illustrate the whole thing. Lucky for me Martha Stewart had these handy dandy hissing cat silhouettes on her website. I printed them out on card stock and placed them on top of black paper and cut out with a craft knife. Each cat came out slightly different, but I like it that way. I used my Aleene’s glue stick to adhere the cats to sheet music discs.


GET YOUR HISS ON
The next thing I did was use my glue gun to attach my rosettes to the banner pieces. Next I used my glue gun to attach the sheet music circles to the center of the rosettes. Last but not least I used my Aleene’s Glue Gun to attach my twinkling letters H-I-S-S to the center 4 circles of sheet music.


STRING AND HANG
I used a black and white polka dotted grosgrain ribbon to hang my banner. I put a thin line of Liquid Fusion glue across the top of each panel and the banner and laid my ribbon on top making sure the pieces were spaced out evenly. I cut the ends in a decorative fashion and hung in my kitchen with push pins.




I am pleased as punch with the way the banner looks and how it helps draw attention to my collection of black cats. Plus it gives me something fun to look at as I stand at my sink and do the dishes.

So now about winning those snazzy cards. All you have to do is leave me a comment right here and next Thursday we will choose a winner. I'd love to hear about how you celebrate and decorate for Halloween!