creating a shield tutorial and template

Its pretty fun when you can create something that your child is wanting. My little man is into knights right now. Big time. He has been wanting swords and shields. Using my design and paper crafting skills and products, I was able to create some great shields. And most importantly, I have a happy little man!!

I made downloadable templates for you, to make your own shields:
(I am using a new site, new to me at any rate. I hope that it works for you to download and/or print. If not, please let me know via email.)

Large shield (back)

Small shield (front)

 

I started with the templates, which I printed off and cut out. I used large sheets of Fun Foam, allowing me to cut two shields from each piece.

 

Trace your LARGE shield onto the foam. Cut it out, staying to the inside of the black lines.

 

Cut two LARGE shields out and glue them together. I did this because I wanted the shields to be sturdy (little boy and all).

Then trace the SMALL shield onto your secondary color. Do two of these, as well.

Adhere one the smaller shields to the front. Oh, and I used Aleene’s tacky glue for this.

 

From your scraps, cut a piece of foam about 1.25 x 8.” Glue the ends to the shield. This will never hold. As I found out. :)

 

SOOOO, grab a couple of large brads and push them through to the front.

 

Its kind of a shallow hold, so if you wanted to do this BEFORE adhering the front layer, go for it. :) I just added a second piece (small shield) to the front.

 

To decorate the front of the shields, we used Spellbinders die templates. The little man said we had to make different designs, or that would mean we were on the same team and couldn’t fight each other. :)

These images are from Spellbinders S4-300 Heraldry (lion, winged shield) and Spellbinders S4-299 Fallen Angel (long sword).

Fun foam cuts beautifully with Spellbinders die templates and the Grand Calibur. One pass and perfect!

 

Here is a look at one version.

And here is the happy little man. The colors we picked were based on the two foam swords he had. And yes, we had sword fights for the rest of the afternoon. :)

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the template! thanks for stopping by!