A BANNER CHRISTMAS

Since I own the Perfect Pennants Bigz L die for my Big Shot, I decided to make a very special Christmas banner using it. I wanted it to hang from the bottom of two picture ledges we have
in our great room, so the color scheme was important.

I decided upon two current Stampin' Up! colors and two retired ones. The current colors are Cherry Cobbler and River Rock, while the retired colors are Handsome Hunter and Pear Pizzazz.

I actually did waste quite a lot of time and paper trying to decide upon all the various combinations: the colors, the embossing folder, the dies. 

During the designing process, I tried so many things that I didn't like. For example, for the bottom points of each of the pennants, I had originally planned to adhere a tiny spiral flower 

in Cherry Cobbler. I made 17 of those teeny little things, only to lay them all in place and 

discover that they looked horrendous! So I set them aside for another project (they are still 

set aside . . . waiting), and went back to the drawing board. That's when I hit upon using 

the Sweet Buttons Embosslits to create framed circles. I then added antique ivory buttons 

to each one. I LOVED the look of that. 

Originally, I had created rosettes that would grace each of the three blank pennants. Nope. 

Too much.

The pennants themselves seemed a bit bare, so I found a (non-Stampin' Up!) Sizzix die that 

would provide an open edge trim that would echo the circles surrounding the letters and those 

at the points. It was the perfect finish. (And I apologize to Stampin' Up!, but I DID use the die 

in my Big Shot!)

The most tedious part of this project was the creation of the letters. I stamped each one on 

River Rock in Cherry Cobbler ink using one of Stampin' Up!'s retired alphabet sets. Then . . . 

I cut each one out. 

All, in all, I am delighted with the results of my three-week-long quest for a Christmas banner.

(The following picture shows four of my photographs. If you click on the photo, you should be able to see them a bit better.)

I send to you and yours wishes for a very very merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays!) and a 

safe and happy 2013. 

Smiles.