How to Make Daffodil Cutouts
Daffodils are delicately scented flowers that are abundant in the springtime. They grow from bulbs and grace the landscape in shades of cream, white, apricot and yellow. Their distinctive blooms consist of a trumpet-like center surrounded by ovoid petals, and their leafless stems are sleek and smooth. While few creations can rival the natural beauty of an actual daffodil, it is both fun and easy to make paper cutouts inspired by these cheerful flowers. You can use daffodil cutouts to embellish handmade cards, scrapbooks, wrapped gifts or decoupage objects.
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Things You'll Need
- Tracing paper
- Pencil
- Carbon paper
- Medium- to heavyweight paper
- Scissors or craft knife
- Optional: Copier
Instructions
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Find an illustration or image of a daffodil that appeals to you. Look for illustrations and images of daffodils in gardening books and catalogs, on the web or in flower identification books.
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Lay a piece of transparent tracing paper over the illustration. Trace the daffodil onto the tracing paper using a pencil.
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3
Slip a sheet of carbon paper underneath the tracing paper onto which you have drawn the daffodil.
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Lay the tracing paper and the carbon paper on top of a piece of medium- to heavyweight paper, such as construction paper or card stock. Make sure the carbon paper is between the tracing paper and the construction paper or card stock. Note that the mottled side of the carbon paper should be pressed against the tracing paper; the smooth, dark side of the carbon paper should be pressed against the construction paper or card stock.
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Use pencil to trace over the drawing of the daffodil that you already made on the tracing paper. Press firmly and evenly with the pencil as you trace over the daffodil drawing completely.
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Lift up the tracing paper and carbon paper. You should see an exact replica of the daffodil on the construction paper or card stock.
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Cut the daffodil out of the construction paper or card stock using scissors or a craft knife.
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Tips & Warnings
After tracing a daffodil onto tracing paper, modify its size using a copier if you desire. Enlarge or shrink the daffodil according to your taste. Then lay the copy of the daffodil over the carbon paper before transferring it to your construction paper or card stock.
If you feel comfortable, draw a daffodil freehand rather than tracing an image or illustration. Feel free to make the daffodil more abstract or fanciful.
Fold the piece of medium- to heavyweight paper into two or three equal portions before transferring the outline of the daffodil onto it. This way, you can cut out two or three daffodils at a time rather than one.
Experiment with using different colors of paper to make the different parts of the daffodil. For example, cut the stem out of green paper and the bloom out of yellow or orange paper. Attach the different-colored components of the cutouts to each other with glue.
Use glue to affix your daffodil cutouts to cards, collages, scrapbooks or other objects.
References
- Photo Credit daffodil image by Witold Krasowski from Fotolia.com
