Cutting a Perfect Sentiment Banner....By Hand...(No Die Needed!)

I've gotten lots of inquiries about the assorted sizes of sentiment banners

 that you've often seen me use on my cards.

The question I get asked all of the time  is: "Which die(s) did you use for the banner?"

The answer is: "No die....they're hand cut"

There are lots of great banner dies out there now...

some curved....some straight...

layered banners...banners with shadows...

straight edges...wavy edges...

stitched...plain...

thin...wide...long...short...

all sort of banners..

(and I DO have many of those dies)

Most times, though...

I grab a ruler..and some scissors...

and I cut my own banner...

to the size and width that I  need for a specific card...

and more importantly...

for a specific sentiment.

Cutting your own banner is...

fast...

and....it's easy...

and...no die cutting machine or dies are needed!

With so much curiosity about my banners...

and the big question being...

"If you are hand cutting your banners...HOW do you get the tails to be exactly even?"

The answer is...

It's really not difficult...

and after you create your first banner...

You'l probably be hooked...

and will want to put a banner on every card front that you create from here on in!

(PS...they also make great cupcake toppers when attached to a toothpick)

So...

I thought that maybe a little photo tutorial might be useful to those of you who would like to use banners on your cards that have nice even symmetrical tails.

The nice thing about hand cutting your banner 

is that you can customize the width...

to accomodate wider /larger stamps 

and you can tailor the length to what works best with your card.

The NOT nice thing about and cutting a banner is having it LOOK LIKE it was hand cut...

AFTER you had a few too many cocktails...

with the banner tails being uneven.

So...here we go...

we are going to create a perfect banner...

with perfectly symmetrical tails.

Time to get out your supplies....

You'll need  card stock...a ruler...a trimmer...a pencil.. and scissors...

Choose the card stock that you'd like to create your banner with.

We're going to create a 1 inch wide banner today....

so....

You'll want to cut a 1 inch wide strip of card stock.

Cut the strip to the length that you'll need for your banner

I chose 3 1/2 inches long for the banner that I'll be creating with you today.

Using a pencil...

Draw a straight line down the center of the BACK of the card stock

(I note "BACK"....in case you are using a print for your banner)

My strip is 1 inch wide...

So I drew my center line at 1/2 inch...

which is the center of the strip.

Now you'll create the markings for the banner's "tails"

Draw a straight line across the banner at 1/2 inch from the end.

Now you'll have crosshairs...

(a precise intersection of both straight lines)

**I find that this marking of 1/2 inch in from the end of the strip gives the nicest size tails for most sizes of banners that I use on card fronts.

(NOTE: Banners for scrapbook pages...or larger banners...require a different tail end marking)

But.... for our card making purposes...

1/2 inch in from the end works best.

Then...

using your ruler 

draw a line from the intersection of both lines...

to each of the outer lower corners...

as shown

Using small detail scissors or paper snips

cut along one of the lines...

being careful to NOT cut beyond the intersecting point in the center

Now do the same on the other angled line.

You'll want to make sure to not cut beyond the center intersection line...

so go slowly....take your time...

After both angled cuts are done...

this is what you'll have!

and...Wha-la!!

YOU have created your very own banner!!

Now...

Let's do a quickie 1/2 inch wide banner...

so that you can see that this method of marking lines works on banners of any width.

Cut your card stock to 1/2 wide...

Find the center point (in this case...the center line of  a 1/2 inch strip is 1/4 inch)

So...you'll draw a line all the way down the length of the card stock strip at 1/4 inch

Then draw a line across the width...at 1/2 inch in from the end...

Draw two angled lines from each of the corners

to the intersecting lines

Then cut along each of the angled lines ...

from the outer corners..

to the the intersecting point of both lines

as shown below

(and exactly as we did for the wider banner...above)

And there you go!

2 banners..

created the same way...

from card stock strips of different widths...

Both with symmetrical tails...

and....

looking as perfect as a banner cut with a die.

I hope that this little photo tutorial is helpful

and allows you to create banners of your own

that are beautifully cut...

and have identical...balanced...and symmetrical tails!

Have a great day...

and please take a sec to let me now what you think about this tutorial...

or better yet...

go give this a try...

and come back and share a comment below 

letting me know how YOUR banner turned out!

Michelle.