Silhouette Banner Tutorial with a Layering Hack!

So last week I hosted a baby "sprinkle" for a friend who is expecting number two in a few weeks. It was the perfect chance to break out the Silhouette and get crafty! Helen's nursery colors are neutrals - yellows and grays with some zoo animals - so I wanted to make a cute banner that she could take home. Check out the final product! Details on how to make it (with less paper than you think) below. 

I had a banner in mind with that layered look: a solid background with a border, circles, then letters on top. All in all, it looked like I would need about 6 sheets of gray and 6 sheets of pale yellow paper to execute. Time to check the stash: Only 4 sheets of yellow and 3 sheets of gray?? I live only a mile from Michael's, but with sick kiddos and only a day to prepare after returning from a family vacation, I had to use what I had. Enter my layering hack.

I opened up my Silhouette Studio program and figured out how to squish four pennants onto one sheet of 12"x12" paper for my gray background with a little space to spare. Then, I cut and pasted them into a new document and used the Offset feature to create the yellow background pennants (with a curved border), about 1/4" bigger than the gray. Finally, I created a circle, then added the letters to the gray pennants, and used the Subtract feature to cut the circle out of the gray, so the yellow would come through when I layered the paper. Get it?? I never had to cut extra yellow circles AND extra gray letters! Less actual layering of paper if you look at the banner closely, but I saved a bunch of paper that way. You're welcome, Mother Nature!

Time to cut! Whenever I cut cardstock, I always use the Double Cut feature so that I get a clean cut. And with no extra paper to spare, I couldn't take any chances! Luckily, everything cut like a dream, and I was able to line it up and glue it all together with my handy Scotch Glue Dots dispenser. Seriously, if you don't have one of these guys you are missing out! So much easier than glue (and less messy! Hello!). But can you see that layering hack? Totally looks like I cut out yellow circles, but nope! So sneaky...

After punching two holes in the top of each pennant about a 1/4" from the top, I strung some white string through the whole thing, and it was done! 

I also did some animal cut outs for the end pieces. The great thing about cutting them out of the gray pennants was that I was left with animal cut outs to use on a few other projects. Add in the few scraps I had left, and I was able to pull off some coordinating signs and items to round out the look. I just love using picture frames to easily display signs for parties. It really makes them look so much better. I literally taped this sign on top of a fancy silver frame. 

I had a few pennants left over from an Easter project from last year, so I put them to use for a second banner with the leftover animal cutouts.

Lastly, I designed this framed sign on the Silhouette, and just printed it out instead of cutting. Mostly because I was out of colored paper at this point. 

 Helen's Baby Sprinkle was a success! Can't wait to meet her baby boy.