When I cut my paper snowflakes, I start with a sheet of paper folded
like this one on the left.
The previous
page has directions that will help you get your paper folded for cutting
paper snowflakes.The top of the paper is scrap. Keep your
designs below the line formed where the top flap folds back.
I've drawn a very simple snowman to show you what it looks like.
See how the arm of the snowman goes all the way to the side of the page?
It is important that some of your design goes from edge to edge so the
snowflake holds together.
Now I've cut out my snowman snowflake design. Let's unfold it and
see what we get:
When I make snowflakes, I use a pencil, and sketch very
lightly so the lines don't stand out like that. Being able to
erase as I sketch is very helpful too!
I add lots of shapes to my
snowflakes including: snowmen, bells, stars, trees, candles, candy
canes, trains, gingerbread people, reindeer, sleigh... The only limits are your
imagination.
Cutting paper snowflakes does not have to include these shapes.
For beginners and children, start with cutting out simple triangles and
see what you get. It's a great way to develop fine motor skills and
introduce geometry to kids! Of course the first lesson needs to be
safety - cut the paper, not your fingers. Never ever put yourself
between the scissor blades!
The glare of the sun reflecting off of the snow can be extremely bright.
These snowmen have sunglasses on:
Symmetry is another good term to introduce to your kids. If I
fold a snowman in half, he's the same on both sides and the edges line
up. That won't work with a candy cane, so I can't draw those on
the folded edges of my flake and have them look right. See the
gingerbread men holding the candy canes? I drew the canes in the
middle, not on the edges.
Give it a try, and see what you come up with. I'm going to go cut
out some more paper snowflakes so I have enough to decorate my windows
and share with family and friends.
My
snowflake quilling pages have a couple more of these paper cutout
snowflake photographs, and now there is also
another cut paper snowflakes page.
