Make this spooky ravens book page banner. Perfect for Halloween decorating! via www.twopurplecouches.com

Spooky Ravens Halloween Book Page Banner

Make this spooky ravens book page banner. Perfect for Halloween decorating! via www.twopurplecouches.com

It’s the second Monday of the month, which means today is the October Silhouette Challenge! A bunch of my Silhouette blogger buds and I are teaming up to share some awesome ideas for making your own garlands and banners. Plus, there are several Halloween-themed ideas, like my Spooky Ravens Halloween Book Page Banner!

Read on to see how I made my banner and to check out all of the other banner projects!

I’m not typically one for Halloween decor. I usually chalk it up to the fact that we don’t have kids, so why go all out for just the two of us? But when I get an idea in my head, I have to run with it. And that’s what happened when I saw that this month’s theme for the Silhouette Challenge was garlands and banners with a Halloween bonus. I started thinking about birds and ravens, which of course led my English major brain to literature, which in this case = Edgar Allan Poe. i.e. the perfect muse for Halloween.

And so the idea for this Spooky Ravens Halloween Book Page Banner started a-brewin’.

I started by designing my banner shape in Silhouette Studio. Sure, you can find different flag and banner shapes in the Silhouette Store, but it’s such an easy shape to draw that you might as well save yourself a few cents! Just draw a rectangle, then select the “Edit Points” tool (the arrow with the dots around it) to create an indentation along the bottom edge of the flag.

drawing-banner-flag

Then draw two lines at the top of the flag. These will cut as slits and make it easy to thread a ribbon through each flag for hanging.

For the ravens, I Googled “raven” in Image search, saved each as a .png file, imported them into Silhouette Studio and traced them. Then I sized each bird shape to fit inside the banners.

print-and-cut-ravens-flags

I utilized the Print and Cut feature to print the ravens onto each banner with a black Silhouette Sketch Pen, then cut each banner out. Of course, I had to use book pages for my banners! It wouldn’t be a Poe-inspired banner without book pages (wink).

watercolor-ravens-tpc

Once each banner was sketched and cut, I wanted to fill the ravens in. I decided on watercolors because I wanted to give them an inky/aged sort of look.

Age paper with tea for an antiqued look. via www.twopurplecouches.com

Once dry, I aged each book page with brewed tea, then baked them in the oven for a few minutes to get them nice and crinkly.

Halloween ode to Edgar Allan Poe and his famous story "The Raven". This spooky banner is made from book pages! via www.twopurplecouches.com

To hang, I threaded black satin ribbon through the slits of each banner.

This is so perfect for Halloween! Raven silhouettes painted onto book pages and turned into a cute banner. via www.twopurplecouches.com

This one little banner inspired a whole Edgar Allan Poe-inspired Halloween mantel, which you can find here!

Sharing with: Halloween Spooktacular / Work It Wednesday

Want to check out even more Silhouette garland and banner projects? 

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

1. Two Purple Couches // 2. DIYJustCuz {Brittany} // 3. Create & Babble // 4. Whatcha Workin’ On? // 5. A Time For Seasons // 6. Get Silvered // 7. Cutesy Crafts // 8. The Small Stuff Counts // 9. Cupcakes&Crowbars

23 thoughts on “Spooky Ravens Halloween Book Page Banner

    1. Two Purple Couches Post author

      Thanks Amy! I’ve had mine for almost two years, but I like to stick to the simpler projects 😉 If you haven’t already, check out Silhouette School blog – she has tons of amazing tutorials for every kind of Silhouette project!

  1. Eff @ Whatcha Workin' On?

    Emily, Emily, Emily… you *are* going to get me into watercolours, aren’t you? LOL. I love this banner. The watercolour adds that extra spookiness…nay, eerieness..and book pages are the perfect canvas for this project. I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with for your Poe mantel. Looking forward to it with glee. :^)
    Eff @ Whatcha Workin’ On? recently posted…Halloween Mini Bat GarlandMy Profile

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