Xyron and DCWV: Balloon Door Sign Tutorial

I started scrapbooking when my daughter was still teeny tiny and my first patterned papers were all from DCWV.  I had purchased a DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl Stack Pack that I have since used every single last piece for scrapbook pages, baby cards, and baby shower decorations.  There is just SO MUCH paper in those stacks!  Fast forward three years later, and I am now creating with a DCWV Baby Boy Stack for my son!

The DCWV Baby Boy Stack is fantastic!  The paper is super thick and about half of the paper is treated with gloss or foil.  As my daughter said while flipping through it, "Mama, this paper is sooo beautiful."  Smart girl.  :)

I was especially inspired by this sheet in the stack with the hot air balloons.

So I set out to make a door sign for my son creating a large die cut hot air balloon mounted on this beautiful patterned paper.  And with some help from my awesome Xyron adhesive products and machines, it was super simple and easy!

HOT AIR BALLOON DOOR SIGN - A Project Tutorial Featuring Xyron and DCWV.

1.  Create Hot Air Balloon Die Cut.  Using an electronic die cutting machine, cut out the different pieces of the hot air balloon.  I sized the balloon to as large as possible on a 12" x 12" mat.  I used my Silhouette Cameo and a cut file from Lettering Delights - Balloon Craze.  

Then, apply adhesive to the die cut pieces, except for the large base piece, using the Xyron Creatopia (Permanent Adhesive).  This is one of my favorite ways to use my Xyron!

With the die cut pieces still on the plastic backing from the Xyron Creatopia, add some color to the patterned paper using some ink.  I used premium dye ink from ColorBox - My Favorite Things (Orange Fizz) and applied it onto the paper using a little sponge dauber.

Finally, assemble the die cut pieces together.  Because of the Xyron Creatopia, this step is super fast and easy - just like putting stickers in a notebook.

2.  Create a Banner.  I wanted to create a banner strung across the balloon and especially loved this "baby" banner in one of the patterned papers included in the DCWV Baby Boy Stack.

There are two sheets of each patterned paper in the stack pack.  Using scissors, cut out each of the letter pennants (leaving you with two sets of pennants, each spelling "baby").  Fussy cut one set of pennants minus the white and stitched color outline.  Adhere that directly on top of the other set of pennants using DIY Foam Tape.  from one set of letter pennants and them on top of the letter pennant using DIY Foam Tape.

To create the name banner, use chipboard banner shapes and simply cover them with patterned paper.  I used banner shapes from Basically Bare.  (Xyron did a blog hop with Basically Bare last December which you can find here.)

Cover the pennant pieces with DCWV patterned paper.  I traced the pennant shapes onto the patterned paper, cut them out, adhered adhesive onto the paper using my Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker, and then sanded the edges using a Core'dinations sanding block.  

Then, embellish the pennants.  I used American Crafts Thickers in different fonts to spell out my son's name.  Then adhere the pennants directly onto the hot air balloon die cut and embellish with twine.  

3.  Reinforce the Background Patterned Paper.  Since this project is intended to hang on a door (and not sit flat inside a page protector, reinforce the background patterned paper by adhering it onto some cardboard.  I used the back cardboard piece of the DCWV Stack and applied adhesive using the Xyron Creatopia.  (Gotta use the ENTIRE stack, right?!)  Then punch two holes along the top edge of the paper to string some ribbon through for hanging.

NOTE: The little embellishment along the bottom of the patterned paper is just a photo of my son inside a polaroid die cut using a Lawn Fawn - Lawn Cuts craft die that coordinates with the "say cheese" stamp set.  Along the bottom of the polaroid is a little banner die cut from the DCWV patterned paper (the same sheet that also included the "Baby" banner shown in step 2 above).

4.  Adhere the Hot Air Balloon Die Cut, Attach the Banner, and String the Ribbon.  I then mounted the hot air balloon die cut (embellished with the banner) using DIY Foam Tape.  By making my own foam tape, I can cut whatever size foam squares that I need.  For this one, since the balloon was so large at the top, my foam squares were HUGE; it made everything so much faster!  Then string through some ribbon and your wall hanging is ready to display!

Make sure you see some other awesome projects featuring DCWV and Xyron on the Xyron Facebook Page!

As always, thanks for stopping by!