Sewn Paper Happy Birthday Banner

If you have seen any amount of my (Eli) posts over the past few years with Cut Card Stock, you know that I love creating hanging banners with the beautiful card stock here. I created a new one for someone I love who's birthday is coming up soon (my daughter is turning 14).

If you have a sewing machine, get it ready but if you don't, just do everything with your favorite adhesive.
Let's get to it. Here's how:

Gather supplies: Card stock, I used Pop Tones which are 10% off during June: Grape Jelly, Tangy Orange, Orange Fizz, Sour Apple, and Gumdrop Green. I cut each of the 8-1/2x11" card stock sheets in half for 4-1/4x11." Then in order to decide on the color combo, I arranged them in my hands and shot pics of them, like this. Sometimes I think seeing them like this helps me decide.

I decided to use the combo with the reds on the end. I felt like it anchored the piece better.
Cut banner letter matting from Grape Jelly card stock. I made each letter 3-1/2".
Then figure out what colors go with what letters...here is what I did...
Write the letters: H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y
Write the numbers: 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 3 2 1
Assign a color to each number. Then figure out which colors are cut from which letter.
1-Tangy Orange: H, I, Y
2-Orange Fizz: A, B, A
3-Sour Apple: P, Y, T, D
4-Gumdrop Green: P, H, H
Cut the letters from the colors...and hope you don't lose one like I did here...

and then make the wrong replacement instead...(lol)

I did eventually fix it to the right green color. :-)
Lightly adhere letters to purple matting using Tombow Mono Multi-purpose glue to keep them from slipping when sewing. Be careful not use too much and gum up the sewing machine.

Finally, all the right colors...
Cut a long length of Red Satin Ribbon. Mine was 1/4" and I used four lengths of my arm span. Fold it in half and mark the center. Start with the letter "I" and pin it near the center. Finish pinning to the right and left to help with centering.
Sew the letters onto the Red Satin Ribbon.
Create a few hanging chains to embellish the banner. Cut out shapes and combine in fun descending order.
Sew, making sure to continue moving the papers when you stitch in between, to give the shapes space to hang down.
To give the hangings a bit of weight, add some beads to the bottom. Tie them onto the banner.
Embellish the entire banner with sparkly sequins. I used flowers but stars or others would work too.
String several buttons onto the end of the banner as a counter weight.
Hang and party on!!!