pennant pizzaz

Spring is here and with the warm weather we have gotten quite busy with fun events. It seems like the older my kids get, the more birthday parties they are invited to. So this year they wanted to have one of their own too. To keep things simple we had a 2-hour party, really limited the guest list, and enlisted help from family as much as possible. There were crafts, games, food, and cupcakes. Although it was fun, I'm hoping to have a 2 year break before the next party. It's already been a while and I'm still recovering!

In preparation for the celebration I discovered a cheap and easy way to make pennant banners by hand. I chose some papers from my plentiful stack of 12x12 scrapbook paper that matched my color palette. (I really need to use that up now that I'm doing digital scrapbooking.) Then I marked the paper at 3" and 9" on one side and 6" on the opposite side. I used my handy x-acto knife to make 4 cuts on each paper (shown in blue), which yielded 3 pennants per paper. The dotted lines are where I scored each pennant, folded them over simple curling ribbon and taped them securely. This made it easy to slide them around as needed.

I LOVE my x-acto knife! It does take some practice at first. Always make sure to use a cork-backed metal ruler to guide the x-acto when cutting and watch your fingers! Use a self-healing cutting mat to work on. It seems like a lot of money up front, but it's so worth it. I've used mine for 13 years now. (Which reminds me, it needs to be replaced. Time to clip my 40% off coupon and visit Joann's.) For scoring, I use a bone folder that I also LOVE and have had for years now. But for simple projects like this you can use a pointed chopstick or the back of a plastic knife.

I was happy with these cute pennant banners - one is still hanging outside on our patio surviving all the rain we've had lately. My husband was happy that we didn't spend much for decorations. The kids were happy to see their friends at the party. A win-win for all of us!

And many thanks to Auntie Lucy for her awesome cupcakes!