Hi ~ Lori here from ScrappinMyStressAway!

This week our Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs is to use brads in your project. I have been making banners lately.....a lot of banners. They are just so fun to display. Mardi Gras is coming up so I thought that would be a great banner!

When I think of Mardi Gras, I think of jazz music, masks, hats and the colors purple, yellow and green. I grabbed my Gypsy and got to work.

I started with these banner flags from Birthday Bash. I sized them to 4 inches. Birthday Bash is a great cartridge for banners, it has several different banner flag shapes.

I got the Jester's hat from Don Juan and sized it to 1.59 inches and Mardi Gras sized to 1.94 inches. I got the filagre from Don Juan and sized it to 2.76 inches.

I wanted a multi-colored jester hat and filagre, so I cut them out in three colors (also one in black for the jester hat) and trimmed them apart.

I pieced them together and added some gold stickles.

In order to create a layer for the phrase Mardi Gras, I copied another on on my mat and used Hide Contour to hide the inside cuts.

I needed more, so I found the mask on Designer's Calendar and sized it to 3.12 inches. I cut it out in purple and white, and trimmed the white mask for a layer.

I cut out the saxophone and trumpet from Quarter note and sized them to 3.12 inches and 1 inch.

My measurements seem odd if you just look at the measurements. I start with the background piece (in this case the banner flag) and size the pieces to best fit the space. If I intend on placing an image on an angle, I will rotate the image on my Gypsy screen before I size it.

I added some purple, green and gold stickles to my mask.

I needed a little something between the image and the banner flag, so I grabbed a diamond shape from George and sized it to 3.24 inches. I cut them out in yellow.

I ended up using only 4 of the diamond shapes because the jester hat and filagre had too much yellow and blended in.

I poked the brads through the green ribbon to attach the banner flags. I tied on some purple and green ribbons for added pizzaz.

And here is my completed banner. I hope I inspired you to create a project with brads or eyelets and join our challenge!!