Color Me Monday: Flying the Flag for Pennants!

Welcome, September! Today’s artwork features a September calendar page great for your scrapbook, as well as two stylin’ cards for a brilliant birthday invitation or a back-to-school wish. In addition to a cheery color scheme featuring some of my favorite brand new hues from our updated Summer palette in Sky, Smoothie, Pear, and classic Desert Sand, you’ll also see another commonality on some of the artwork: my passion for pennants!

Pennants and flags are a huge trend right now. You’re seeing them everywhere—in home décor, on cards, as party favors, and even on scrapbook layouts. Dressing up your artwork with this adorable and easy trend is a piece of cake to do and it’s also a lot of fun. Here are a couple of tricks to turn simple triangles into the perfect pennant.

First, how to get that ideal “swoop”: Your pennant should look relaxed, as if hanging suspended by two points. Before you begin attaching triangles and fiber, use a light pencil line to sketch the arc of your pennant (the floss/hemp will cover it later). Then, use your piercing tool to place small holes equal distances apart on your arc and use thread, embroidery floss, hemp or your choice of fiber to stitch the pennant string.

Next, make terrific triangles. Use the Party Pennants stamp set (C1429, page 62 in the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book) to create your ideal triangle shapes—this set includes solid, striped, and spotted triangles for plenty of variety. When stamping several triangles, there are plenty of great ways to do it. Here’s an easy way that I like: stamp the points of the triangles fitted together, so that a series of them “zipper together” like teeth, with just a small space in between each image. You’ll create a strip of “zippered teeth” that’s very easy to trim out, because you can use a paper trimmer to neatly cut the straight outside edges of your “zipper,” and then it’s just a quick snip, snip, to cut each triangle apart.

Finally, add your sentiments or distressing to the triangles and attach. You can freehand lettering inside your pennant shapes, or use a small alphabet stamp set (like the Tiny Typewriter Alphabet, D1222) or rub-on letters to add a statement. Attach each triangle just below the stitching line with your favorite adhesive—if you like the look of a pennant flying in the breeze, just attach the adhesive at the top of the triangle, instead of the entire triangle. It really is a breeze to fly your own flag—made even more gorgeous with brand new colors from our glorious Summer palette!