DIY With Debi: Headband Toppers
Hey friends! Time for a little DIY fun! I’m Debi Adams and I’m happy you have stopped by. Every week I feature something that is non-card related and this week is no exception. After seeing all those New Year's Eve headbands a while back, I thought why couldn’t we make something like that with Hero Arts alphabet dies and we could customize it to fit any occasion? (Notice I said “we” because you’re included!) So I have made up a few headband toppers showing the different variations that can be done for whatever the celebration. Obviously there are a ton of different ways you can work this headband but I’m just getting you started.
To create the basic headband you will need the following:
Hero Arts
DI342 Luggage Tag Alphabet Frame Cuts
Other
Cardstock of your choice
Headbands - thin style preferred but thicker will work
Hot glue and glue gun
Die cut machine of your choice
Scoring tool
Washi tape
I bought these types of headbands…
Cut a strip of cardstock that is 1 1/2” high by however long the customized word is, adding 1/2” on both sides. Score the strip at 3/8”. The 3/8” is the width of the headband. If yours is smaller, you can trim it up after the word has been cut. See picture.
Next lay the word onto the strip of cardstock, allowing a tiny bit of the word to go over the scored line. Use washi tape to adhere in place.
You are now ready to die-cut. Place strip onto bottom cutting plate. Using the scored line as a guide, lay top cutting plate edge onto word, allowing a small gap between the cutting plate and the bottom of letters. This will prevent the bottom of the letters from being cut. Now, run through die-cut machine.
Remove metal frame cuts from paper.
Trim out area before and after first letters and between the letters themselves using the score line as a guide. Small scissors work the best for doing this.
Bend letters back towards scored strip and adhere to headband using red tape or hot glue. Now you are ready to embellish!
My first headband is a graduation one. I wrapped ribbon around the band to hide the headband color as well as to add continuity to the topper. I cut the letters again out of glittered cardstock and attached them to the top of the original letters. (These letters were not on a strip.) It actually gave them more support. Sprinkling a little glue and glitter between the headband topper and the ribbon hid the gap between the two. The word “happy” was die-cut using the Congrats Happy Stamp & Cut and adhered to the top of the word “grad”. I would have loved to have used the Classic Numbers Fancy Dies as well but they aren’t in my “library”…yet. :)
How about making baby’s 1st a little special? Spell out his/her name or the number birthday. The word “one” was embellished with Blue Hawaii Reactive Ink. For decoration, I used the new May My Monthly Hero Kit (rainbow and sun) and the sentiment from Hero Greetings Mini Messages.
Headbands seem to be a part of bachelorette parties and bridal showers. For this topper, I die cut “bride” from gold poster board and adhered it to the headband. Then I cut just the letters again from glittered cardstock and adhered them to the backside of the word so that they peeked out a little bit. I used tissue paper fru-fru to hide some of the mechanics and to add a party vibe. Additional idea: It could be cute to add a bit of tulle netting to the back of the headband, making a mock veil.
And there you have it! Three different ways to create headbands from basically one, fabulous frame-cut set. How fun would it be if all the bridesmaids wore one with the word “bridesmaid” on it to a bridal shower? And for a baby shower there could be headbands pre-made of “boy” or “girl” indicating what the invitee thinks the momma is having. These would be great for name tags too! Ah, the list of possibilities goes on! What do you say?
Can’t wait to see what you create with this set.
XO,
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