STEP 1 – CHOOSING YOUR PAPER

The quality of the paper you use will affect your cutting. I have found that very cheap printing paper tends to tear, so it’s better to start off with good quality printing paper, or a craft paper of your choice.

You can use any weight of paper, from 90gsm to 200gsm, depending on which you prefer cutting. I like using thinner paper as it doesn’t take as much effort to cut, so saves your fingers from aching!

STEP 2 – PRINT YOUR FREE TEMPLATE

Once you’ve downloaded the template, set it to print at high quality on your chosen paper. The side of the paper which is printed on will become the ‘wrong’ side.

If you’d like it bigger or smaller, you can change your printing settings.

STEP 3 – CUT OUT THE MIDDLE

Hold the knife like a pen and always cut away from internal points and corners, working slowly and trying to keep an even pressure.

There’s no set way to approach a paper cut, but I find cutting out the small ‘middle’ areas helps to stop tears. In this case, cut out all the middles of the leaves before moving on to the centres of the flowers.

STEP 4 – CUT OUT EVERYTHING ELSE 

Once all the middle sections are cut out, you can move on to the in-between bits. Work from one side of the circle to the other, and use the index finger of your other hand to hold the paper behind the blade to prevent tears (careful not to cut your finger!).

STEP 5 – INFILLS

If you want a plain coloured background, skip to step 6, but if you want to take things further, you can add ‘infills’, which is essentially like colouring in your paper cut.

Choose the colours you want to use for each section, and with the ‘good’ side of the paper cut facing down, draw around the internal shapes on the coloured paper. For example, if you want yellow petals, draw around the inside petal shape.

Cut them out about a millimetre or so from the lines and stick them to the back of your paper cut with the pencil lines facing towards you. I lightly glue the paper cut and then position the coloured section over it.

STEP 6 – ADD A BACKGROUND

Choose a background colour card or paper. Add a few dabs of glue to the back of your cut and stick it down. You can use the tip of your knife to pop a bit of glue under any bits which are raised slightly.

STEP 7 – PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK!

Well done, you’ve completed your first paper cut! Don’t worry if it looks a bit ragged around the edges, or if you’ve slipped a few times and cut off a leaf or two! It’s a skill which takes time to perfect, so keep at it and you’ll make quick progress.