Monday, June 6, 2011

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)

template and fun foam 

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 template and cut out 

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

glue two layers together for sturdiness 

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

trace smaller template


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

layer two colors together


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

handle for back glue only 

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. :)

handle with brads 

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

putting brad through all layers 

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.

Spellbinders die cut foam 

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!

shield two 

Here is a look at one version.

happy little knight
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!

6 comments:

Evette K. said...

Oh Kim what an awesome job on the shield for your young knight. He is adorable!! Bet he will have the princesses swooning. LOL I really think your creation is top notch. Hugs.

Rox-Ann said...

Super what a happy boy he is!! Such a great idea for using crafting supplies love it!

Gina said...

Oh, to have little ones again . . . and make FUN things for them to play with! :) I can't get over how BIG he is getting!

Heather said...

This is so cute. If you had the time to make a lot they would make cute favors for a party.

Star Ark Creativity said...

This is so cute and great play toy,too. Wish my boy was that young again because I would have made this for him and his friends but now he is 18 year old and he is into fishing and four wheeler. Great Job!!!!! Thank you for sharing.
Have a great day :)
Delama

Geny said...

Fabulous and fun, Kim! Mikey was just asking me for a shield today, I will have to make him one now for sure!!

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