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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Baby Birthday Banner {Tutorial}


It was my nephew's first birthday last week! And we threw him a mustache bash. I'll be sharing all of the stashy details soon enough. First up, this super cute baby face birthday banner. I got the idea from Stephanie over at Simply Radiant

I made two banners celebrating my nephew's adorably expressive face throughout his first year. And I absolutely love how they turned out. Some party goers thought they were really cute, some thought they  were a wee bit "creepy", but one thing's for sure they made everyone smile. My aunt even kept one of the banners to hang in her cubicle at work.


What you'll need for your own baby face birthday banner:

  • 8-9 baby faces printed on card stock
  • patterned card stock in several colors
  • double-stick tape
  • scissors
  • tissue paper
  • ribbon

Select several photos of the birthday boy/girl on your computer and crop them down to just their little heads. The more varied facial expressions the better: big smiles, grins, yawns, sad faces, etc.

Change the color of the photos to black and white. You can make the faces as big as you'd like, but I decided to fit two per page. Print them out on card stock.

UPDATE: I had someone ask how I cropped down the photos. I claim to be no technological mastermind but here's what I did:

There are a lot of different ways to do it and programs to use. But here's what I considered to be the easiest (hence what I did):

1. Find the photo saved on your computer that you want to use. Right click on it and open with Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

2. In office picture manager, go to the top bar and click on --> Picture then in the drop down menu --> Color.

3. On the right side bar you'll see three sliding bars: Amount, Hue, and Saturation. Slide the saturation all the way to the left (-100%) to make the photo black and white.

4. Go back to the Picture drop down menu and click --> Crop. Then just crop close enough to the head (you'll be cutting around the face later). Most of my faces were about 4 inches wide and 5 inches long. But they don't have to all be be exactly the same size.

5. Save the cropped black and white image. I then just imported two cropped heads per page in Word (landscape orientation) and then printed them off. :)

Most of my photos that I started with were very large image files from my Canon camera. So when I cropped them down to just the head they were still very clear. I also used a couple of my sister's Facebook photos which are going to be less quality and little blurry once cropped, but I was fine with it.

Cut around each face. I left card stock on top of the heads to support the party hats.

Cut triangles out of patterned card stock for the party hats and secure on each head with double-stick tape.

To make the fringe for the party hats, start with three strips of tissue paper the width of the faces and about two inches long.

Stack the three pieces of tissue paper on top of each other and cut towards the middle all the way down to create fringe.

Cut down the other side as well, make sure to leave some space down the center.

Run some double-stick tape along the bottom of the party hat. 

Now grab each end of the fringed tissue and twist a few times before pressing to the double-stick tape. Fluff up the fringe and trim any crazy stray fringe pieces.

Once all faces have been hatted and fringed, string them up with ribbon. I used two rows of ribbon taped behind the faces and the hats.








I'm sharing this baby face banner over at I Heart Naptime, My Girlish Whims, The DIY Dreamer, Uncommon Designs, 52 Mantels, A Glimpse Inside, Whipperberry, 5 Days 5 Ways, The Chicken Chick.

27 comments:

  1. This is so unbelievably cute! I love it, love it!

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  2. I love this... what a great idea: adorably done AND beautifully vintage looking!

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  3. Hi Ashley,

    Can you give a few more details on how you cropped the photos? What program did you use? I'm wanting to do this for my daughter's first birthday. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure Samantha. There are a lot of different ways to do it and programs to use. But here's what I considered to be the easiest (hence what I did):

      1. Find the photo saved on your computer that you want to use. Right click on it and open with Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

      2. In office picture manager, go to the top bar and click on --> Picture then in the drop down menu --> Color.

      3. On the right side bar you'll see three sliding bars: Amount, Hue, and Saturation. Slide the saturation all the way to the left (-100%) to make the photo black and white.

      4. Go back to the Picture drop down menu and click --> Crop. Then just crop close enough to the head (you'll be cutting around the face later). Most of my faces were about 4 inches wide and 5 inches long. But they don't have to all be be exactly the same size.

      5. Save the cropped black and white image. I then just imported two cropped heads per page in Word (landscape orientation) and then printed them off. :)

      Most of my photos that I started with were very large image files from my Canon camera. So when I cropped them down to just the head they were still very clear. I also used a couple of my sister's Facebook photos which are going to be less quality and little blurry once cropped, but I was fine with it.

      Hope that helps. Let me know how your daughter's banner turns out!

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  4. I love how you said "some party goers thought they were really cute, some thought they were a wee bit 'creepy.'" I think this is absolutely adorable and I can't wait to make one for my daughter's first birthday. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    Replies
    1. It was so much fun to make creepy or not! haha

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  5. I recently made this for my son's 18th birthday, using photos from when he was a baby, up until recently. It looked wonderful, and he loved it so much it's actually hanging in his room now. Thank you so much for this great idea and such an easy to follow tutorial!

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  6. I made two of these for a niece and a nephew. They were a huge hit! They really didn't take much time, either. I kept the photos in color. Thanks so much.

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  7. Question on the card stock to print the photo's on. Is it 8x11 cardstock? I want to make one for my daughter's 1st birthday, cute idea!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, it was 8.5 x 11" cardstock and I fit two faces on one sheet. You can definitely make the faces bigger or smaller, based on preference. But I found that two faces per page was the perfect size.

      Each face wasn't exactly the same size down to the millimeter - I just eyeballed them. Either way I think your guests will love it. It was so much fun at my nephew's first birthday. Let me know how your daughter's banner turns out. :)

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  8. This is awesome. I am stockpiling this in my ideas for birthday parties. My stepdad makes the most hilarious faces and isn't too far away from 60, so I may even hang on to this for his shindig!

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    Replies
    1. That would be hilarious with a grown man face!

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  9. This is so cute! It would be so fun to do a picture from each year of their life! Guess that's what I'll be doing in 9 days for my boy :) Thanks for the great idea!

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  10. Wow this is a beautiful idea!! I plan on doing this for my son's 1st bithday party. I do have a ? though, how do you import the photos into word?

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    Replies
    1. If you have the photos on your computer, just click the "insert" tab at the top of word. Then click "picture." Then you can browse for the file with your photos on the computer.

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  11. Love this idea. And making one for my daughter's birthday.

    Can you explain a little more about how you did the fringe? Not having in luck. Does the whole stripe get twisted before placing on the tape or just the ends?

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    Replies
    1. Well I held one end still, then twisted the other end until the whole thing twisted then pushed it to the tape. It's a bit tricky. You kind of have to mess with it a little, until it looks right. Good luck with it! Let me know how it turns out.

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  12. Made one of these for my grandson's first birthday party...loved it!

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  13. I made one for my Great Grandsons 1st birthday 3 years ago, now making another for my Grandsons 1st birthday, I am not too fond of my new computer print software so I found Lunapic, free and a great easy to use online picture editor. Go there you wont be disappointed! They have a circular crop tool that makes the photos relatively the same size.

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  14. loved your idea..made the same for my son's first birthday.. Thanks a ton!!!

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  15. Thanks for sharing this!!! Everyone including my one year old got a kick out of his little face hanging up aroud his first party! There face changes so much over the first year, this is a great showcase. I lamenated the faces and plan to save them for his 18th birthday.

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  16. What a great idea! I too made these for my son's 1st birthday party and they were a hit! I had a hard time understanding how to twist delicate tissue paper without it tearing, so I glued each of the 3 pieces together down the center after cutting the fringe.

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Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you!