Decorating with Paper Archives - Page 2 of 37

Looking to take your wall art game to the next level? A little die cutting will get you there, and today I’ll be showing you how to make two die cut wall art pieces that you can customize with your choice of color and pattern to match pretty much any room in your house. Yep, these babies are versatile and, if you like a good puzzle, they’re also a lot of fun to put together!

LCI Paper was recently selected by German paper manufacturer, Gmund (their Savanna papers are some of my favorites), to carry and distribute the gorgeous papers in the Gmund Color System, and they sent me a selection of papers that I’ll be using in today’s project, as well as a couple of projects that’ll be coming up soon. I think you’ll agree that the Gmund colors are pretty wowsa!

Here’s what you’ll need:

A variety of colored cardstock (I used Gmund Chartreuse, Fuchsia, Cobblestone, Dark Teal, Aqua Blue, Cayenne, Snow White, and Sun Glow)
A digital die cutting machine (I used a Silhouette Cameo)
The free wall art templates (download below)
Double-sided adhesive and / or craft glue
8” x 10” and 5” x 7” picture frames

Click any of the screenshots below to see at a larger size

Make Die Cut Wall Art Using the Silhouette Cameo

Step 1 : Open the herringbone pattern wall art SVG file in Silhouette Studio*. You’ll see two shapes, the base (left) and the pattern (right). I kept the color fills on the pattern shapes so, if you want to set up your wall art in the same way as I did, you’ll be able to quickly choose the shapes for each color. Select the shapes and ungroup them (Object > Ungroup).

Note : There are really only two basic shapes, a right triangle and a parallelogram, in this pattern, and they’re interchangeable. In other words, if you accidentally cut a fuchsia parallelogram in a position where you meant to cut an aqua one, then you can cut an aqua one later and pop it into place anywhere you see a parallelogram shape in the pattern.

* You’ll need Silhouette Studio Designer Edition to work with SVG files, but I’ve also included GSD versions in case you don’t own the Designer Edition of the software. Please note that color fills are not available in the GSD files, but you can still use the printable PDF guide that’s included in the download to keep track of colors.

Step 2 : Choose all of the shapes for the first color that you’ll be using. You can choose multiple shapes at once with Shift + Click. A dark gray rectangle will appear around the shapes as you select them.

After you’ve chosen all of the shapes, copy them (Edit > Copy or Cmd / Ctrl + C) and create a new document (File > New).

Step 3 : In the new document, paste the selected shapes (Edit > Paste or Cmd / Ctrl + V). When you paste the shapes, they’ll be in the same layout as they were in the original pattern, which doesn’t make the best use of your paper.

Step 4 : Group your shapes closer together in one area of the document, so you’ll waste as little paper as possible when you cut it.

Step 5 : Pull up the cut settings menu by clicking the icon second from the right in the top menu. For the lighter weight cardstock (111 lb. and under), I used the recommended Cardstock cut settings (Blade 4 // Speed 3 // Thickness 33) and select the double cut option. For the heavier weight cardstock (130 lb.), I used the Heavy Cardstock cut settings (Blade 7 // Speed 1 // Thickness 33), which automatically selects the double cut option.

Attach your cardstock to a mat, load the mat into your die cutting machine, and press the Send to Silhouette button to cut the shapes.

Step 6 : When I’m finished cutting a color, I go back to the original document and delete those shapes. I find that this helps me keep track of what I’ve cut and what I need to cut, but be careful to NOT save the document or the shapes will be lost.

Repeat Steps 2 through 6 for each color that you’ll be using.

Step 7 : When you’ve finished cutting all of the herringbone pattern shapes, move the base piece to the center of the document and cut it out of of white (or whatever color you prefer) cardstock.

Step 8 : Print out the pattern guide (included in the free download below) and place it next to the pattern base on your work area. If you have a great memory, or if you’re only using a couple of colors, then you probably won’t need the guide. But because I’m using as many colors as I am, I found it very helpful to have in front of me while I was assembling the pattern.

Step 9 : Adhere the die cut shapes, one by one, onto the base. To adhere the small triangles, I used craft glue, and for the parallelogram shapes, I used a double-sided adhesive runner.

When you’re finished assembling the pattern, it’s ready to frame!

Assembling the “HOME” wall art :

For the “HOME” wall art, cut out all of the pieces and the base in the same way that you did with the herringbone pattern. Run double-sided adhesive (a glue stick or spray adhesive would work, too) all over the surface of the base.

Line up and adhere the “HOME” frame (I cut mine from Cobblestone cardstock) to the surface of the base. From there, adhere the letter segments to the base, puzzle style. Lastly, adhere the center of the “O” to complete the piece.

Templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

images by Kristen Magee for Paper Crave

I remember it like it was yesterday. 8th grade. Brand new school … literally, it had just been built. Exciting times. And, unfortunately, the crappiest brown lockers that you ever did see. What I wouldn’t have given to have had these seriously cute locker printables from Smallful to help cover up that awful brown.

Thankfully, you lucky ducks can pick up these fun printables and decorate your plain and/or crappy colored lockers to your heart’s content! This printable set has over 15 different pieces, including a customizable chandelier, a photo pocket frame with 4 quotes and 6 labels, a wall-mounted bunny head, and several banners that you can use to decorate your own locker or to surprise a friend by decorating their locker on their birthday or another special day.