Cut Paper Valentines

Another Valentine inspired craft, this time using cut paper to showcase pieces of children’s artwork. I love cut paper projects, so much so that I have been considering getting a digital paper cutter, as yet I haven’t done so as they are relatively expensive and I’m not sure yet whether I’d use it enough to justify the expense, but in the meantime I’ve been doing a few projects by hand with a knife and board, which is quite time consuming when it’s a detailed design, but ultimately fairly satisfying.  This design is very simple and doesn’t take long to cut, but even so, because it involves using a knife, it’s not a project for kids themselves, but is a great way to use some of their artwork.

I created a template to use for some  cards and bookmarks, which you can find below. Just click on the image below the image to open it up, then right click to download.

• For the bookmarks you need to use a thin paper. The finished project will have 3 layers of paper, which gives it more stiffness.

• Cut the paper to a size that is double the finished width.  Fold this along the length, then unfold it and fold again along the width. Because the design is entirely symmetrical, you only need to transfer the top half of the traced design to the folded paper.

• Cut the design with a sharp scalpel and cutting board, cutting through 2 layers at a time.

• Unfold the paper, and cut a section of your decorative paper a little smaller than the length, and just under half the width of the paper. Glue this in place, then apply glue to the other cut side of the paper, and fold the paper into place over the decorative paper.

For the card, because of it’s thickness, I cut the whole thing as a single layer. Of course you don’t have to use children’s artwork with this project, because it looks equally good using a plain coloured paper underneath.

There is one more Valentine inspired project to come next week!