Sunday, October 24, 2010

Spooky Halloween Banner Tutorial


Kayela e-mailed me recently and asked me how I made my "Welcome to Sixth Grade" banner, and it reminded me that I've been meaning to make a "Spooky" Halloween banner.


Yes, I realize that Halloween is just a week away, but I've always been an eleventh hour person anyway, so here goes.


I've been thinking about this banner for a long time, over a year, and all this time I've known that the letters had to be cut out of black glitter paper. I found this awesome stuff at Target in their scrapbooking isle. You get two pieces in a package for a ridiculously cheap price. 

Fine. I really can't remember exactly what I paid, but I know it was cheap.


I used this Halloween paper pack and I think I got it at Wal Mart. Or Michael's.

Okay, somewhere. It's made by K & Company, does that help?


You should be proud of me because I took notes on everything I did on my Cricut, just so I could report back to you exactly what I did. For starters, I used the Old West Cricut Cartridge for my font. Of course I bought that cartridge because my girls are so horsey. I cut my letters out at 4 inches and my pressure was set to HIGH because the glitter was a little tougher to cut through than regular cardstock.


For my black cardstock background, I used the Creative Memories Reminisce Accents Cricut cartridge. The shape I used is the Doily with the Frame Shadow button activated. Pressed, whatever. I don't speak Cricut. The size I used is 4-3/4 inches.


I used the same shape for my background paper, and all my settings were the same except for the size. My size was set to 4-1/2 inches so that I'd have a very skinny black border of cardstock showing. The cardstock not only accents the banner pieces, but it makes it a little more sturdy.


I used tape runner to adhere my letters and backing paper. I found that I needed a lot more tape runner on the glitter pieces because the glitter shed a bit and made the sticky less sticky.


I think my favorite part of making this banner was picking out and placing all the cute Halloween stickers I bought for it. I found most of my Halloween stickers at Wal Mart for $1.50 per pack. They're super cute too.




In order to hang the banner, I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch two holes in each letter background shape to run my string through. It was kind of hard deciding where to put the holes, but I talked myself through it.


Once I punched my holes, I used my Crop-a-Dile to set eyelets in each of the holes. The eyelets will  help to keep the string that will hang the banner, from ripping through the paper.


I love my Crop-a-Dile.


It does a nice job setting eyelets and I don't have to use a hammer. That was back in the Olden Days that people used hammers to set their eyelets. I remember going to crops and getting a headache from all the pounding.

Don't tell me you're still using a hammer either. If you are, don't admit it, just sneak it into the tool box where it belongs, and go and get yourself a Crop-a-Dile. I'm pretty sure that Wal Mart even sells Crop-a-Diles. You can rationalize the purchase by reminding yourself how much money you're saving not having to buy so much Advil.


Once my eyelets were set, it was time to string my letters together. Since this is a spooky banner, it had to be black, so I went in search of this stuff. It's hemp cord which is used for jewelry making. No jewelry makers need to know that I'm using it for evil. I mean spooky.


I like to start at the end of the word so I don't have to waste time measuring and guessing how long I need my string to be. When I get the whole word on the string and get it all adjusted, then I just cut it and I don't have to waste any of it.


I also feed my string in through the front of the first hole, then back up through the second hole. I just think it looks better that way.



Halfway there, and I'm liking the way it's looking.


Isn't this dude CUH-reepy? He gives me the super creeps.



So many fun stickers, so little time.


Once the letters are strung together, I tied two pieces of ribbon to the string between each letter, and a few pieces at each end. The ribbon serves two purposes. First, and possibly most important, it provides cute. Second, it keeps the letters from sliding into each other, thereby keeping a uniform spacing of the letters.

This is the sort of thing that gives an OCD freak like myself hives.


There. No hives.

I apologize for the pictures. The natural light has left Idaho until May. We've had our fun, now it's time for winter.


I know I'm way late to be doing this, and you probably won't even be able to use it until next year, but who wants one of these creepy little things? I made an extra one for one of my lucky readers. Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite thing about Halloween is. I'm only leaving this open for 24 hours. At 10:00 Monday night, mountain time, I'm picking a winner. Maybe, just maybe, you might get it in time to hang it up for one day.

46 comments:

  1. My favorite thing about Halloween is "Booing" our friends, neighbors or ward members and leaving them treats on their doorsteps. We love to watch their surprise and excitement as they open the door and find a treat waiting for them:)

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  2. My fav thing...the candy!! I have a major sweet tooth!!

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  3. I'm with Heidi; my favorite part of Halloween is the candy! =D Your banner turned out super cute!

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  4. My favorite thing is seeing all the little kids in their cute costumes.

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  5. I love planning and making my kids costumes WITH them. This year I have a "Pinkalicious", two cavemen (Ook and Gluk), and the cutest horsey running around in Halloween excitement.
    Stephanie Anderson

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  6. My favorite thing is seeing how cute my girls look in their costumes! I love trying to get the "perfect" picture, which usually doesn't happen! :) You've inspired me to put a cricut on my Christmas list! :) I LOVE the banner!
    Amy Wood (amywood76@msn.com)

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  7. I think I have the correct answer and it is as follows: My favorite part of Halloween is to see all the cute crafts that Jill puts on her CMC blog!! Do I have a brown nose or what??? I also enjoy all the humor that comes with the making of the crafts!!! That's the honest truth (the humor part).

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  8. I think my favorite thing has to be taking out the pumpkin goop and making roasted pumpkin seeds!

    I hope I win the banner because I LOVE your blog and creations! -Ann

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  9. My favorite thing abut halloween is.. the kids, the candy, the costumes... we love halloween here in our house. My hubby is the scarer and I get to laugh! Our son is 2 and is scared of it all this year!

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  10. Our favorite part of Halloween is just dressing up with the 4 kids and going out tricker treating, then coming back for pizza and bomb fire=its been a tradition--its alittle hard to get them all back at the same time because their all in their 20's, but boy--time went too fast--we still have fun though. and by the way, I love all your projects, your an inspiration. Thanks, Mary

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  11. my favorite thing about Halloween is how much both my husband and daughter love it. it's fun to watch them, and encourages me to be decorating and getting in the spirit (so to speak) myself

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  12. ooh, I love all that Halloween brings. Crisp nights, decorations, pumpkin patches and trick or treating! My favorite part is when the kids come back with bags full of candy and then stealing out all my favorite pieces... WHAT?! Come on. You do it too, I know it!

    CUTE border! I hope I win this because I bought the WRONG cartridge. You couldn't have made this with the CM Cheerful one, could ya?! I guess I know what my next purchase will be! Thanks, Jill :)

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  13. My favorite thing about Halloween is creating a unique costume...before my daughter I made myself an Oompa Loompa costume and a Smurfette costume. Now I get to make her cute little costumes. This year she's being a giraffe in a tutu of course!

    I LOVE this banner! You seriously made me want to run out and buy the supplies and make one myself (I am a procrastinator too!)Winning yours would be even better though!

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  14. Favorite part of Halloween?? There are so many....beautiful trees, trips to pumpkin patch and apple orchard, seeing the kids get so excited about getting dressed up and trick or treating, seeing the adorable kids that show up at our door, haunted houses, scary movies, we love Halloween here!

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  15. Getting extended family together for a meal of Soup. Each family brings their favorite and shares. Sometimes yummy combinations of two kinds of soups can appear in bowls! Then the younger kids are taken around the neighborhood trick or treating, while the rest of us "man the door" for little ghosts and goblins that come trick or treating at the house.
    Warm soup, homemade breadsticks, ghosts and goblins, what more could you ask for!

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  16. CUTE banner - I think my favorite part of halloween is decorating... inside, outside, email, stationary, etc... it is almost as fun as decorating for Christmas...

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  17. What a great give-a-way!!! Ohhhhh...there are so many!!! The candy, the costumes, the trick-or-treating, the decorations, carving pumpkins...sorry I couldn't pick just one!! Love this time of year!!!

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  18. The smell of pumpkins when you carve them and when they have a tea light in them. (Also love sneaking some of that candy my kidlet gets!) CUTE banner!!!

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  19. Let's be honest... my favorite part of Halloween is my kids going trick-or-treating and bringing me back a 6 month stash of CHOCOLATE! Love it! Your banner is adorable, as usual! :)

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  20. My favorite thing about Halloween is seeing the costumes on the little ones and how excited they are ~ they're getting ALL THIS CANDY!! LOL

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  21. My favorite thing is to see all my kids dressed up in their costumes and their delight when they see themselves.
    Very cute banner, love the stickers.

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  22. Love it! Thanks for sharing! My favorite thing - PUMPKINS! I love taking my kids to the pumpkin patch every year to pick out pumpkins! All sizes, colors, and shapes! It is my favorite family tradition!

    Thanks again for posting this!

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  23. My favorite thing about Halloween is...it is my oldest son's birthday! We call him Boo and he will be 12 this year. On his second birthday he couldn't get over all the neighbors saying "happy birthday" to him when they gave him his candy.

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  24. My fav thing is the costumes...love them!

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  25. My favorite thing about Halloween isn't just one thing, I love going to the Pumpkin patch each year with the family to pick out our pumpkins, our traditional family Fall/Halloween Dinner in a pumpkin, halloween countdown calendar, carving pumpkins, dressing up and being someone or something else other than yourself for an evening, listening to the monster mash, and the fun games you can play and the crazy fun icky but good food you can make for the holiday. Such fun and I too love your blog and all your ideas! I think I want to be You for Halloween....a crazy, fun, ocd, hilarious, talented, entertaining, creative genious teacher! Ha Ha Thanks so much for being so willing to share all your fabulous ideas!

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  26. My favorite thing about Halloween is seeing my daughter and her cousins together. My 10 year old DD and the older of her cousins are only 8 days apart. It has been a tradition to get the girls together every Halloween (it's easier than the more traditional holidays) and I love having 10 years of pictures as they've grown. Even though both sets of parents are divorced, we still all get along, and really make it a point to keep this tradition going.

    My DD was so sick with the flu last year the week of Halloween. I was heartsick that she was going to miss it, but by Friday she was feeling better. Her costume was not as grand as past years (slapped on a pair of black cat ears and a warm fleece to go trick or treating), but she made it through and crashed in the car on the way home - but she wasn't missing Halloween with the "cuzzies" for anything!

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  27. My favorite part about Halloween is carving pumpkins with the kids and have pumpkin stew! I also love taking lots of pictures and scrapbooking them later into their album!

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  28. kids in costume is definatley the thing i love most about halloween. love the sign. when i figure out a way to fit this circuit in my budget, i am buying one- you do amazing things with it - so envious!!! :)

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  29. Jill -

    Everything about Halloween is my favorite, the leaves changing colors, decorating my house, this year my 4 year old got in the spirit and we decorated his room like a graveyard, decorating outside my house. Opening the Halloween Countdown calendar each morning. Making/picking out costumes for my 2 boys, myslef and hubby. Trick-or-treaters oh so much fun I LOVE HALLOWEEN and would love to be the one to show off your banner next year!

    Megan
    mtschaggeny@hotmail.com

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  30. My favorite thing is the pumpkins! I love pumpkin picking at the patch with the kids and hubby, and decorating! No decorating this year! We moved, so I haven't pulled anything out! But we still have pumpkins!

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  31. This is adorable! I should have bought a Cricut.

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  32. Candy! Costumes! Pumpkins! Decorations! Creepies! Oh wait, you said one thing. Candy. lol

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  33. Jill, you are amazing and so talented! Hate to say I "stalk" you, but every time you post, I am rolling on the floor laughing and also, so inspired! Thank you for what you do! I just got my own Cricut and am so excited to try to cut some vinyl!

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  34. My favorite thing about Halloween is makng my kids their costumes! From Ninja Turtles, to Red Riding Hood, french maids, Teletubbies and princesses, they have all been a gift of my love!

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  35. I love it and hope I won! My favorite thing about Halloween is handing out candy - those trick-or-treaters are so cute, and I love to seethem all!

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  36. I love dressing up. Last year my husband and I dressed up like Dog the bounty hunter and his wife. It was great.

    This year we are skipping dressing up because i'm 40 weeks pregnant and waiting to deliver at any time. Can't think of anything better than a Halloween baby!

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  37. OH I love love love the banner Jill, if only I could master my cricut.. if only those stinkin cartridges weren't so expensive.. if only I didn't have craft ADD and now own a YUDU which is taking up a considerable amount of my crafter focus... My favorite part of Halloween..Now don't judge here.. but I make the Halloween costumes for our four kids every year, and the absolute best part of Halloween is My oldest son's reaction when he sees his ensemble. It is exactly worth every curse word and seamripped seam to see his cheesy permagrin when he lays eyes on a whole outfit designed just for him.
    I also get a secret sort of adrenaline rush from managing to get it all done, generally at the 11th hour, and without having to let the kids watch too much TV.. this year They are PEter, Edmund, Susan and LUcy from Narnia.. Cross your fingers.. I haven't started yet!

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  38. Oh there are SO many things I love about this holiday! It's greatest this year because my little girl is actually old enough to go Trick or Treating, she can say TREAT so we'll settle for that, and since I'm pregnant the CANDY will be a definite plus! I love to decorate for halloween, and I love making treats for my friends/family. Did I mention I love Halloween!!

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  39. I am so bummed that I just found your blog and missed the cut-off for your awesome giveaway!

    First of all, you are hilarious! Secondly, your banner is gorgeous! Thirdly, I want to feature you tomorrow at FCCB for our Thursday's Tutorials feature! You rock!

    Thanks for the inspiration! :)

    Lori (THCEO)
    TheHouseholdCEO@live.com

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  40. Amazing banner--I love all things Halloween, but this is fabulous, and thanks for all your tips and tricks. I also enjoyed reading all your funny comments! I heard about you on FCCB.

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  41. HI, Love your banner but more importantly, I love your writing style on your blog. Great!
    Kim

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  42. wow this is so great I am now a follower with you love your blog feel free to come follow me Debbie @http://craftydeb-ddscrafts.blogspot.com/

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  43. I just love the Banner. Sooo Spooky !!!! Halloween is my favorite. I have so many favorite thing, Here are the things I love, dressing up, taking my grandchildren trick or treating, Our party that I host at work every year ( it's tonight yipee, posting pic tomorrow)going to my aunts house and meeting up with all my family and trick or treating with all of them, we all dress up. it's so cool to see all the different costumes and all the smiles. My goodness I could keep going on and on, did I forget all the candy.. he he Happy Halloween every one.

    Kellee
    kelgentry66@gamil.com

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  44. I love it - thank you for the step by step!!!

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