Smash Cake Banner

It's the DCC First Monday blog hop and this month our theme is crafting with school supplies.  So what, may you ask, does that have to do with a banner........  My first question however was, "what the heck is a smash cake?"

My grandson will be one, yes one year old next month, so my daughter-in-law is having some birthday photos taken of him with a "Smash Cake".  Apparently this is where babies, toddlers, or whoever are allowed, actually encouraged to dive into their (specially made for the purpose) birthday cake - headfirst, feet first, or whatever.  The cake needs a banner, so she asked her crafty mother-in-law if she could make one......  well, of course I said yes!

I wanted something sturdy to make the individual flags, but couldn't find any card stock that I really liked.  I needed primary colors and bright, cheery patterns.  I had almost given up when I found these cool note cards for a dollar at my local craft store, plus the popcorn cartons.  I still needed some solid colors, so I popped into Walmart and there, among the school supplies were these bright, shiny folders at .37 cents each.  Can't beat that......... a lot more economical than card stock and shiny to boot!  Just look how cute these are!

 

I also needed thin cord, scissors, ruler, glue, hole punch, alphabet punches (or stickers), 2 bamboo skewers, 2 Smoothfoam™ balls (Dow styrofoam balls will not work for this) and a green paint pen.

Look how cute this turned out!  

The triangle flags are 2" wide x 3" long.  Cut as many as you need then punch a small hole in each of the top corners.  Glue the letters in place to spell out a name, "BABY", "SHOWER", or whatever is appropriate for the occasion - one letter for each flag - then thread the flags onto the cord.  Push a small ball onto each bamboo skewer, then paint with a marker.  This is why I recommend Smoothfoam™ for this project.  You can paint directly onto the surface with a marker and the results are nice and smooth.  Here's a closer look.

Wrap one end of the cord (or bakers' twine) onto a skewer as shown.  My banner will be heading out tomorrow.  I'll share photos of the Smash Cake party, but it may be a while before I get them, so y'all come back now.................      Don't forget to hop thru the all DCC blogs using the DCC logo in each of the designer's sidebar.  I always love to see what they've created with school supplies.  Enjoy!

Yours truly,

Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING