Commission: Gender Reveal Banner

A client contacted me recently to see if I could turn around some decorations for a "Gender Reveal" party she was holding for her daughter. After I asked a few questions (this is a new concept for me, so I had a learning curve to scale!), I said I'd take it on, and this is what we came up with:

I created decorated clothespins to which I attached a large bow tied with gardeners' twine ($1/spool from the Target dollar bin). I tied the two ends of the banner twine into a slip knot which I sipped around one side of the clothespin; it also held the punched streamer in case they decided to use all the elements as a single unit, although constructing it this way enabled them to use the streamers in other ways, such as on the refreshment table or across a couple of windows. In addition, for demonstration, I used push pins stuck into the top edge of my light soffits (so the holes don't show later), and the clothespins grabbed right onto those while still holding the banners and the streamers.

Here's the left side. See how the twine has a nice, soft spiral to it? That was just from being wound into the ball. I got lucky! The pink ribbon was a recycle from a gift I had received some time in the past... I taped a length of blue ribbon onto the back of the hearts to repeat that color in the "end effects". 

Here is a close-up of the individual letter cards, which measure 4x4.5" and were a perfect proportion for the Seriff Essentials I had in the studio to use with my Big Shot. I was really pleased at how quickly I was able to cut both letters and shadows.

You'll note that another way I streamlined the process was to treat all the blue cards in the same way, and all the pink ones the same. I punched small shapes to reinforce the holes for the twine, using DSP so that the double layer wouldn't be so difficult to punch through (and it didn't hurt that they added a little pattern and accent!). All the blue letter cards were stamped with "Off the Grid", while I used "Creative Elements" on the pink ones. I came back and added a few embellishments to the letters to pop them into the 3rd dimension and repeat shapes, colors and themes throughout the entire project.

I had seen several people use punched shapes to make garland, and had been wanting to try it, so I gathered up all my scraps from cutting letters and shapes and punched a variety of sizes and shapes of both DSP and card stock. I laid them out on the table to get a rough idea of color and shape repetition, then stacked them up and took them to my sewing machine. I was absolutely thrilled at how quickly I was able to run up 7' lengths that twist and turn gently in the air currents! My client was surprised and delighted at this little "extra" that I tucked in - and the only additional material it required was the thread.

Here's the full deal, floor to ceiling. I was able to complete it in an afternoon and I was astounded at how few sheets of paper it required.

Hope this sparks an idea or two for you as the holidays approach or you have other events in your life that deserve to be celebrated!

-Kathy






 
PS- I suggested she could create a little book by putting rings through the holes and adhering photos to the back of each card if she wanted to turn the banner into a keepsake.