I’ve been gushing about this awesome kit by Shabby Princess for a few days now, and I still have even more ideas to share with you !  I think lots of moms like to make their baby’s first birthday a special day to remember. But as a scrappin’ mom, I was also thinking ahead about how to best preserve those cherished moments for years to come. How cool is it, then, that I was able to create my own customized party decorations so that my photos of the celebration perfectly match the digital kit I used for my scrapbook pages ?! And it is WAY more simple and easy to do than you may think!
 

Photoshop Tips and Tricks

• I created a template (included below) to make a very simple pennant banner printout – now I can use the same template to make different party decorations to suit any event!
• Using the template helps save ink and paper - I only print what I need.
• Templates also take the guesswork out of this project – no measuring or tracing needed, just layer, print and cut!

Technique: DIY Pennant Banner Party Decorations (Free Template Below) 

This project was SO fast and I was very pleased with the happy looking decorations ! NOTE: These steps work in Photoshop CS, but might be different in other versions.

Supplies

Free Pennant Banner Template (below)    

Photo editing software (I used Photoshop)

Printer, paper and ink

Scissors

String (the length of your desired banner)

Stapler and staples 

Steps For Making the Pennant Printout

1. Open the pennant banner template (found below) in Photoshop, and in the layers palette, select the layer called “Pattern 1″.
2. Open a digital patterned paper file you’d like to use for your banner. Type ctrl+a (select all) and ctrl+c (copy).
3. Go back to the template file and type ctrl+v (paste), ctrl+g (create clipping mask, or group with previous). At this point, you may want to use the move tool to position the patterned paper just right over the pennant pattern. Then type ctrl+e (merge down) when you are happy with how it looks.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 using coordinating patterned papers for the remaining two layers in the template.
5. Flatten your image (Layer>flatten) and print  – make sure you are set up to print in landscape mode! I also included some circle “sticker” decorations in the extra space on the edges of my printouts, that I later used for making streamers hanging from the ends of the banners. 

Steps for Assembling the Pennant Banner

1. Once you have printed enough copies to make your desired banner, cut out all of the pennants and line them up in the order you’d like them to hang.
2. Fold the top edge of each pennant over the string and staple each end, trimming any excess corners that are showing.

I added “Happy Birthday” word art to the center pennants that I had printed and cut out.  I also made streamers to decorate the edges by cutting out circle decorations and attaching them back-to-back to ribbon with double sided tape.  

OK, so here is the pennant banner template you will need to make this project – it is in a layered .tif format. If any of you need a .psd format, let me know . Enjoy!

*Click Here to Download the Pennant Banner Template Freebie*

See also the other parts of this review:

Occasions – XL Collection by Shabby Princess; Review Part 1

Occasions – XL Collection by Shabby Princess; Review Part 2

Occasions – XL Collection by Shabby Princess; Review Part 3

Occasions – XL Collection by Shabby Princess; Review Part 5