Hi friends! I’m constantly asked where I got my 3D Letters template, so I figured I’d share the link and a few tips I’ve picked up over the years. If you’ve been wanting to give 3D letters a try, this is a great place to start!
Materials:
- Cardstock Warehouse cardstock papers:
- Adhesives
- Electronic Die Cutting Machine (I'm using a Cricut)
- Cut Files
- 3D Letters - @NilmaraQuintela on Etsy
- Clipart - I'm using Design Space images #M408A5F7B, #M505F485A, and #M505EDDF7. (Or search "monster" and choose your faves!)
- Flat Marbles
Start by purchasing and downloading the 3d letter file linked above. (Or 3d letter file of your choice.) As with any file, once you upload it, you’ll want to resize (if you want) while the pieces are grouped together. With this file, you can upload the individual letters you need. Make sure when you resize, you’re looking at the letter height and resizing to where they’re all the same, for example, 6 inches. If you resize to the width, you’ll notice some letters are bigger than others, as a 4 in width on “I” and a 4 in width on “M” will look completely different. My theme is "One Little Monster" so I am spelling out ONE.
One of my favorite things about doing 3D letters is trying to incorporate more elements where print-and-cut is not needed. In the case of this Monster set, I took apart monster clipart in Design Space by slicing, welding, and uniting pieces I wanted to use, and either scoring or welding them onto the letter plate for perfect alignment when assembling. Here are some examples of how the scoring looks (remember to attach the score lines before cutting) and how uniting elements looks. Uniting elements is probably my preferred choice over welding. If you need to move something closer or further, you can do it without having to undo any other changes you’ve made since then.
Another thing I really love about this template is each letter has its own placement guides that use shapes to tell you where the pieces should go. These shapes are cut into the side pieces and also used on screen to help you. This is probably more standard now but when I started these six years ago, many templates either did not have one, or used a pen and you’d have to switch between a pen, scoring stylus and blade between each cut.
One last thing I do to make my life easier with these, when possible, is use different base colors for each letter. This allows me to easily identify which side pieces go with the letter I’m working on. For example, if my “O” is blue, my side pieces are blue, and if my “N” is yellow, my side pieces are yellow. If I were to do them, let’s say in all black, it would take some time to determine which piece goes to what letter. Besides, scary monsters become cute when using lots of colors, lol. I also like to choose 100 lb. colors for the letter bases to they are nice and sturdy!
For this set, I wanted to start off with assembling the face plates first and putting them to the side. Sometimes, this is my last assembly part, but because there weren’t many pieces here, I decided to do them first. You’ll see that I scored pieces on each face plate letter to show me where the elements would go and then for the “N” I welded the face on, but for the “E” I united all the pieces, almost the same as a weld but allows me to make changes in the future.
Next, we’ll go through the assembly of the E, and then each step gets repeated for each additional letter. In the actual file, you’ll see (as shown at the very top with the N), there are placements for each piece to help you determine where to glue them. I personally don’t use these anymore, and instead I fold along the score lines and then line them up on the letter where the heights and folds match. If this is still something new to you, I recommend using the guides on the screen.
Here I used the guided tabs and placed them along the “E” before I started gluing. Once all the pieces were glued together, but before placing the final E on top to seal the letter, I glued in some flat marbles to add some weight for the letter. This is usually very helpful when people are displaying these at outdoor parties. You can also fill them with rice, as Erica did in this 3D letter tutorial.
Once the marbles were in, I added glue to the full frame at the top and placed another orange “E” to close the letter.
Finally, it’s time to add our decorated face plates. I added 2mm foamies in between the 3 layers to help make these really stand out. Repeat for as many letters as you have in your set, and you're ready to party!
If using the slice, contour, and weld/unite settings feels too complicated for you, don't underestimate how cute simple, colorful 3d letters can be for a party and just start with the basic letter shapes! You can also add small embellishments to the letters after they are assembled. Use your imagination and craft at your comfort level, but don't be afraid to try something new!
I hope you loved this fun party decor tutorial and that it inspires you to create your own 3d Paper Letters!
Follow me at @lacedesignsstudio_ for more party and paper decor ideas, and share your creations with Cardstock Warehouse on Facebook and Instagram! Tag us in your projects (@cardstockwarehouse) to be featured in our stories!
Happy Crafting!
Amanda (@lacedesignsstudio_)