Confetti Banner

It's my unofficial ongoing mission to make life a little more fun. Although, now that I've said that, maybe it is an official mission now? Okay, so in my official quest to make life full of joy, I've stumbled upon an idea that takes something that's already pretty happy - a banner - and amping it up. This isn't your normal banner. This is a banner on steroids. This is Extream Banner. (So... Hulk? Hur hur hur...) This is... party banner. And what could be so magical that it instantly turns anything into a party? Confetti. 

The thing that takes these banners to the next level is that not only do they have a background of colorful awesomeness, they also are shakeable. I think that they look cute hanging, but they're definitely small enough to attach to a card and send to someone who deserves some joy.

Supplies:

Contact Paper

Confetti (or bits of colorful paper)

Ruler

Scissors

String

Writing Utensils or Paint

Step One: Cut out a square and dump confetti all over it. Make sure your square is about an inch bigger than you want your banner to be on all sides. After you dump on your confetti, try brushing some off. It looks more impressive when you can see through to the other side. This is the only chance you'll get to arrange your confetti to look the way you want, so take advantage of it!

Step Two: Cover up your confetti with another piece of contact paper. This second sheet should be roughly the same size as the first, but it doesn't have to be exact. You are making a sheet of confetti paper, so you want the sticky sides of the contact paper to touch, and the smooth sides to be on the outside. Once you've put the two pieces together, use a flat edge to smooth out the bumps, wrinkles, and air pockets.

Step Three: Trim your banner to the size you want. I think it looks best when the confetti goes all the way to the edge, so don't be afraid to cut through some of it.

Step Four: Fold your banner in half and cut an angle that starts at the edge and goes up towards the fold. Then flatten it back out and smooth out the crease.

Step five: Cut two more sheets of contact paper, one a little bit larger than your banner, and the other more than double the size of your banner.

Step six: Trace your banner onto the smaller of the two sheets and cut it out.

Step seven: Peel both of your sheets off of their backing, then place the banner shaped sheet you just cut out into the middle of the large sheet, sticky side touching sticky side. Place your confetti-filled banner directly on top of the smaller banner sheet.

Step eight: Cut around your banner, roughly creating the shape in the picture above.

Step nine: Wrap the sticky side of your freshly cut sheet around the confetti-filled banner, folding in the two lower triangle corners first, and then the two big wings on the side. This should create a pocket.

Step ten: Use an extra contact sheet back to cover up the upper flap. This allows you to put more confetti into the pocket you created without it sticking where you don't want it to.

Step eleven: Fill up your pocket! I usually added enough confetti to fill it up about 1/3 of the way.

Step twelve: Peel off the contact paper backing and close it up. I added my string before I closed it, just running it along the seam. It worked well.

Step thirteen: Add your message. I loved the way the white contrasted with the colors, but the black looks good too. I'd like to see what someone could do with a paint pen.

I know you could do this with a sewing machine, but since this project would be hanging I was trying to come up with a way to keep the confetti from falling to the bottom. I think contact paper was a good (and easy!) solution.

Who in your life deserves a confetti banner?