School Note Envelope with Garland Banner

Hi Everyone! Amy Heller here with a fun little project especially for all you out there with little ones about to go back to school. I have created a note holder to send with my daughter on the days I want to send her a special note. So when she sees her dolled up envelope in her backpack, she'll know Mom has sent her a little note of love that day.

I'm sure you have seen that banners are all the rage right now. You can find them in all forms - from stamps and stickers to hand-cut ones that are adhered to the card or layout. Usually they are in the shape of triangles. I don't know about you, but I have had the hardest time finding a triangle punch. So, I have decided to create my own little banner using Crate Paper's fantastic new line, School Spirit with some fun school inspired shapes and I'm going to show you how I made it. Let's get started!

Crate Paper Supplies for the Banner:
School Spirit :: Grade Card 12" x 12" piece of paper

Additional Crate Supplies for the Envelope:
School Spirit :: Borders, Brads, Chipboard & Phrases

Other Supplies:
Punches :: Martha Stewart Owl Punch, Apple Punch, EK Success 1" Square Punch
Shears, Trimmer, Sewing Machine & Thread

Additional Supplies for the Envelope:
Maya Road Kraft Envelope

First, trim out a variety of the grade cards from the Crate Paper sheet. I chose this particular sheet (Grade Card) because it has a variety of solids on a single sheet of paper with minimal pattern. This makes the punches' shapes easier to see against my card. It was also perfect because I would only be cutting into one sheet of paper to get the variety I wanted. In addition, when I'm done cutting, I may have more grade cards than I need for my project so, I'm able to set those aside as journaling tags for another project.

Next, we're going to randomly choose colors to punch from each of our shaped punches. I find that punching upside down is the best way to punch.

Next up, I chose to take my squares and cut them in half giving them a triangular look to incorporate in our banner.

Once you've completed your piles of punches, thread your sewing machine with a coordinating color thread. Make sure that your bobbin thread and top stitch are the same color, just in case you decide to use the reverse of one of your shapes once you are finished.

If you have the ability, set your sewing machine on the slowest speed so you can keep up with the stitches, especially at first. Keep your pile of shapes right on your machine for easy and quick grabbing.

Simply start feeding your shapes through your machine while it stitches. The process goes pretty quickly when you start going. I tried to keep my punched papers as close together as possible, so as soon as you know the shape before has cleared the last stitch, gently slide the next through.

In the end, you will have a very cute, random and malleable banner. When it was complete, I thought this would also make an adorable necklace for the little ones. Or, wouldn't it be fun to drape your child's teacher's door in a garland like this? I bet they'd love it!

Now that your garland is complete, all you need to do is decide which portion you want to use and trim and adhere it to your project.

I took the thread ends that I trimmed and adhered them to the back of my patterned paper and then adhered that to my envelope base with single sided scrapbooking tape. This way, there's no need to tie knots or anything and you don't see the ends.

So, what do you think? Pretty simple Right!? Well, I had fun with it and I hope you did to! I'm looking forward to sharing again with you next month! Thanks so much for stopping by Crate Paper today! I hope you have a Super Day!