Happy Birthday Banner - Curious George Goes to the Circus {Project 1}

Declan will be 1 in November {WHAT ALREADY???} and we have decided to celebrate his birthday early so that Gary's parents can be here. It has been 4 years since we saw them and they have never been to our home here in Georgia and they have never met Declan in person. Did I mention he is also the first grandchild?

The designer in me had this planned out for a while. Like all first time moms (I hope I can speak for more than just myself on this), I wanted the perfect party to celebrate my little boy turning one. It is even more special that we waited so long for him to join us in our family.

Original Idea: A party focused around a Carnival theme
Why? So we could have Chicago Hot Dogs of course
Why? Because our son was born in Chicago, as if you had to ask : )
What better way to celebrate his birthday than to have a food from his home state at his birthday party?

And, after the Hot Dog idea, we can say the rest was history so to speak. Hot dogs are more of a summer food, but the Carnival theme makes me also think of FALL with candy apples and popcorn. The plan on paper came together and it began to grow and grow until I felt we would go broke throwing this party. So, reluctantly, I began scale it back, shop around for pricing on supplies (ie the Dollar Store is my friend) and make things myself. Being on a strict budget, a lot of things seemed a lot more important than feeding people enough sweets to put them into a com. Ha!

NOTICE: There will not be a "Make Your Own Sunday Bar" AND a "Make Your Own Popcorn Bar" AND a "Make your own"...Oh, you get the idea.

So, the theme is still Carnival, but since Declan LOVES Curious George, it will be Curious George Goes to the Circus (Carnival).

I hunted on all of the websites (Pinterest, Etsy) for Curious George themed items. But, I still love making things myself so here it is.

Project #1: Happy Birthday Banner

Supplies Used:

• Scissors (already had) 
• Glue (already had) 
• Scrapbook Paper: Neptune Blue (12 x 12) and Recollections Red Diagonal Stripes (12 x 12) from Michael's (used 40% coupon) [I used 3 pieces of each for this banner] Note: The red striped paper does have a hint of yellow in it. 
• Stencil in the shape I liked (already had) 
• Printed letters in the CIRCUS font (downloaded for FREE) 
• Circular Template (already had) 
• Ribbon - pattern Colored Polka Dots. (I used what I had left from another project- $1.99 for a roll of 15' using 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby)

Uh Oh!!

What is wrong with this photo (above)? Look closely. No, look again. Still don't see it? Well...let me tell ya! The stripes are going the "WRONG" way. It didn't really matter. I could have alternated the directions of the stripes, but the OCD side of me was screaming. So, I fixed um, changed it. Do be careful though if you are using stripes or a particular pattern to check the direction of the pattern on the paper before you cut.

Below, you will see the final product. I will be adding additional circles on the end with pictures of George, but my printer ran out of colored ink. Argh! I will come back and add a new final photo when I get more ink.

Stay tuned for Project #2: A Year in the Life of Declan Banner