Paper-Cutting Tips and Daydreaming Girl

I don't remember how I came across paper-cut illustrations, I imagine it was either on Pinterest or when looking for more work by Disney artist Brittney Lee (she is featured in the book The Art of Frozen. If you are looking for some eye-candy, her blog and Etsy shop are really inspiring!).

Over the past few months, I've been doing bits and pieces of things, experimenting, and just trying to learn as I go. It has really been a lot of fun for me because it takes drawing into the 3rd dimension. The main challenge I've faced has been getting a good dimensional relationship among the different paper pieces in order to achieve a sense of depth. You really have to think about how you are going to put the pieces together before you start cutting up paper. 

A great thing about paper-cutting is that it's a very inexpensive medium to take up... you can get started with just paper, scissors, and glue! Of course, as you keep at it you'll want to move beyond the basics. My current collection of tools has grown substantially!

- Paper: I've been using card stock but any paper is fine. If you want your creation to last a bit longer, opt for acid-free paper.

- Tracing paper or light box: You can use either tracing paper or a light box to transfer your image to the paper. I've been using tracing paper to copy my original drawing. I then use the tracing paper to transfer the drawing onto the card stock. A light box would allow you to skip the step of copying your original drawing and let you transfer your image directly onto the card stock. A light box is on my wishlist!

- Knives, blades, and scissors: Cutting instruments. I have found that moving the paper instead of the cutting instrument will give you a smoother edge. It takes a bit of practice but the results are worth it.

- Self-healing cutting mat: This is used to protect the surface of your work area when using the X-acto knife and also helps extend the life of the blades. The mat requires a little time to heal from the action of the blade, so it's a good idea to move your work to a different area of the mat every so often. In a pinch you could use a piece of cardboard as a mat.

- Metal ruler: Used when cutting straight lines with the X-acto knife.

- Tweezers: Helpful when placing small paper bits.

- Acid-free craft glue, 3D foam squares: Used to connect the paper pieces together. The 3D foam squares will elevate one paper piece in relation to the other, giving a sense of depth. The same effect can be achieved by gluing a tiny folded piece of paper (or even tiny pieces of paper glued one on top of the other) under your paper-cut piece.

- Burnisher: The cut paper is going to have a nice sharp edge to it. I like a more rounded edge to give a very subtle illusion of depth, so I run the burnisher over the edges of my paper-cut pieces. It can also be used to curl strips of paper.

- Gouache paint, paintbrushes, and palette knife: Paper comes in all sorts of colors but sometimes you just can't find the exact color you want. In comes paint! Gouache is opaque and renders itself nicely for covering colored paper.

Now onto the project! I wanted to do a curly-haired girl sitting down with her sketchbook daydreaming about what she was going to draw. Later, I want to populate her daydream and give her a background to live in, but for the time being I wanted to focus on the girl. So I made a sketch and copied it onto a piece of tracing paper.

Then I got busy transferring each part of the girl onto the different colored papers I wanted to use. As I cut out different parts I like to lay them on top of each other to see if everything is fitting together nicely.

The hair was A LOT of fun to do, but there were so many small pieces to it that I decided to glue everything in place before fate had a chance to have some fun with me. I painted the pale yellow paper a flesh tone and added all the facial features.

Then I got busy working on the body, clothes, and sketchbook. Before painting and gluing, I placed all the pieces together to check how everything fit together.

I was really happy with the final piece! Now, what is she daydreaming about?

Pipe Cleaner Letter Construction Set for Preschoolers

Our daughter loves anything to do with the alphabet! As a pre-writing activity, I wanted her to understand the components that make up each letter of the alphabet (short straight lines, long straight lines, and curved lines and how they relate to each other). There are several letter construction sets available on the internet, from store bought options (Learning Resources Letter Construction Activity Set) to DIYs: straws and pipe cleaners (Lemon Lime Adventures), popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners (How Wee Learn). 

I decided to make our own set for a few reasons: 1) I wanted her to be able to place the letter pieces on top of the actual letters, 2) I wanted letter cards, 3) I wanted the lines and the curves to be made of the same material. 

This is a really simple and cheap project, all you need are pipe cleaners, pliers, paper, and markers (I ended up laminating the letter cards to make them more durable, so add laminating machine and thermal laminating pouches to the list).

Now pipe cleaners are great because of their flexibility, but they also end up twisting out of shape very easily. To get around this, I twisted several pipe cleaners together to make the letter components more rigid. The long straight lines need 4 pipe cleaners, as do the large curved lines. The short curved lines need 2 and the short straight lines need 1. 

Long straight and curved lines: Twist 4 pipe cleaners tightly together with the help of the pliers. For the curved line, mold the twisted pipe cleaners to resemble a "C".

Short curved lines: Fold two pipe cleaners in half. Twist the legs together. Then twist the 2 twisted pipe cleaners together. Mold to resemble a "C".

Short straight line: Fold the pipe cleaner in half and twist. Fold it in half again and twist.

To make the letter cards, arrange the pipe cleaner parts you just made into the letter you want and trace around them.

My daughter loves playing with this set, the cards especially (she calls them "postcards" and likes standing them up in between the keys of our piano!). The letter cards can be used in other activities such as arranging the letters in their proper order, writing over the letters with a marker (a good reason to laminate them), collecting objects that begin with a certain letter, forming short words, and word games (change one letter to create words that rhyme, hang-man, etc.).

Chinese New Year

I'm a little late in getting around to writing this post but this project really was a big motivator for starting this blog. That being said... Happy (belated) Chinese New Year! I'm not a superstitious person but I've always found a lot of fun in reading horoscopes, palm reading, tarot cards, and personality assessments. The year of the Ram has such good forecasts for me that I wanted something to remind myself of them throughout the year (the general feeling of good things to come, if not the actual specifics). 

The drawing was done in Corel Painter and after being printed I added two paper frames in glittery gold and black.

A quick search on Pinterest brought up this cute origami paper lotus tutorial on iCreativeIdeas.com (flowers can also be purchased at Fish and Lotus Etsy shop). So, I raided my daughter's construction paper stash and made 8, since the ram is the 8th animal of the Chinese zodiac and a lucky number in Chinese culture. At the center of each flower I placed a wish for the year. Then I strung them together and put them up on my wall in my little corner!

Felt Easter Bunny and Chick Plushies

Easter is almost here, but the Easter bunny has already made an appearance around these parts! I made this little felt bunny last Easter and thought it would be a fun project to share. It is so easy to make and other animals can be made using the same basic body pattern (I made chicks and a mouse!).

She has a cute little pompom tail hot glued on her backside!

And here are her chick buddies!

And now onto the patterns! To make the bunny, you will need to cut out two of the Body pattern and 2 each of the ear patterns.  

1 - You can sew the inner ear (pink) to the outer ear (white) or, like me, just use a hot glue gun.

2 - Add the features of the face. I used a French knot for the eyes and just stitched a little pink nose and whiskers.

3 - If you are doing the chick, you can sew (or glue!) on the beak and wings.

4 - Now for the body... Sew the two bold lines together (indicated on the pattern) for both the front and back pieces.

5 - Line up the front and the back pieces of the body. If you are doing the bunny, remember to pin the ears where you want them! 

6 - Sew the front and the back together. You can either place them right-sides together and sew, leaving a small opening at the end to turn it right-side out and stuff it, or you can place them wrong-sides together and blanket stitch everything, again leaving a small opening at the end to stuff it. Either way works and looks cute!

6 - Stuff it and close the opening.

7 - Glue a pompom to the bunny's behind! I also glued a pink ribbon to one ear.

Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt for Preschoolers

For Easter we like to fill a basket with little toys, a book, and art supplies for our daughter. We also like to have an egg hunt! We try not to fill every egg with candy so that each egg is a surprise. Last year I came up with a scavenger hunt involving letters, numbers, and short words (great for preschoolers!). Our daughter loved it!

The scavenger hunt starts with a note from the Easter Bunny. It contains a secret message which, once solved, reveals the location of her Easter basket. 

The instructions are pretty simple... first she has to find the eggs that are hidden around her playroom. Inside each egg is a numbered letter that she has to stick to the Easter Bunny's secret message. The letters spell out the location of her Easter basket. Last year the secret message was "Big Dog" (the name of her adorable stuffed dog). Her Easter basket was hidden inside a larger basket with Big Dog laying across the top.

For the letters, I used Avery's 2" x 4" white mailing labels (they are stickers and the backs are really easy for little fingers to peel off).

Now, onto the letters! Spell out the answer to the secret message on the labels (you can be as colorful and big as you like). Write a small number in one of the corners of the label (I chose the upper left-hand corner).

Then put each letter/sticker in an egg and go hide them!

You can expand on the basic idea of the numbered letters to any concept you want to reinforce... colors, shapes, opposites, things that go together, etc.

Happy egg hunt!

P.S. For all those who are curious, this is Big Dog (all decked out for Christmas)!

Throwback Drawing: Cristo della Minerva

We are entering Holy Week and I remembered a pencil drawing I did a few years back of the Cristo della Minerva by Michelangelo, so I decided to dig it out of the depths of my closet...

Have a blessed week.

Paper Cut Dragon Lantern

When I received an email about a local Martinmas lantern walk, I immediately asked my husband what kind of lantern he wanted (because I really wanted to make ours). He set forth the challenge: a dragon lantern (how cool!).

I designed a four panel lantern with each side showing a part of the dragon's silhouette (head, wings, tail). 

Using black cardstock, I cut out the design with an X-acto knife and lined the panels with white tissue paper (tracing paper would have worked equally well).

I glued the lantern shut and added a base to hold the LED tea light candle. Then for dramatic effect, I gave it a "silver" chain as a handle!

All lit up and ready for the lantern walk!