Tropical Banner

Aug 13 2011

Take a Tropical Staycation

Posted by: Kristen Swain · Edit

Good morning Circlets! Today I am sharing a tropical paradise banner with you. When I think of my perfect getaway, the beach is white sand and the water is sparkling teal blue. You can see right through the water to the sandy bottom and watch the fish dart in the water. The sun is hot and the drinks are cold.   Keeping that in mind, and the economy right now, where I cannot afford a wonderful beach vacation, I decided to create a nice little spot to look  at and dream about. I have a set of drawers in my office that I am topping with some large shells,  this banner and a little tropical flower to think about.
The colors in this banner are creams, light teals, kraft and dark browns as the main colors.

You can see I also used a bit of corrugated cardboard, which I like to give a shabby, weathered feel, highlighted with a sea foam green paint.

I have added tulle to tie the banner pieces together, then tied on knots of ribbon in coordinating colors- kraft, light teal and sea foam green, I also stapled on a bit of burlap ribbon on the back of the tulle to add a little hanging element between the banner pieces.

Here you can see that I have used foam tape to pop up some of my cricut cuts.  I have also glittered many of my elements, and added a line of glitter around each cream banner part to give a little touch of sparkle.
Here are the banner pieces individually.
First is the crab piece from left to right. You can see I have cut out the cream piece using my Expression, then added cardboard and patterned paper mats, using pinking scissors. I painted the cardboard with a paint dabber in sea foam. I also spray misted my cream cardstock with brown spray mist.

I cut a smaller banner piece from patterned paper, then added torn cardstock for an ocean and beach. I added my cuts, popping up the crab and adding glitter then I added some real, small shells to the bottom of the beach.

For decoration at the top, I have added two small cream flowers with pearls in the centers.

For the center banner, I used a phrase cut out, adding glitter to the center of the flower, and popping up the phrase. I also added a teeny little starfish to the word.

Popping up the two seagulls make them feel like they are soaring high over head from the boat.

I love that I have created a small spot in my office to look at on a daily basis, something to help me take a few minutes during the day to daydream about a relaxing tropical beach!



***DOWNLOAD Kristen’s Beach Banner Gypsy File***
Cricut Expression
Gypsy Handheld Device
Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art

• cut Shift in cream cardstock at 5.36 inches
• cut Shift in striped paper at 4.42 inches

Life is a Beach

• cut Title Words in cream cardstock at 1.72 inches
• cut in dark brown cardstock at 2.78 inches
• cut in dark brown cardstockat 2.41 inches
• cut Shift in cream and brown cardstock at 2.53 inches
• cut in cream and brown cardstockat 2.29 inches
• cut in cream and brown cardstock at 2.18 inches

Create a Critter

• cut in cream and dark brown cardstock at 1.47 inches
• cut in dark brown cardstock at 2.76 inches

Paper: My Mind’s Eye
Cardboard
Pinking Scissors
Glitter/Flowers/Tulle: craft supply
Foam Tape: Glue Arts
Cardstock: American Crafts
various ribbons
Pearls: Pebble