Palm Tree Sunrise

Bored during quarantine? This palm tree sunrise paper craft is the perfect excuse to ignore your boredom away while dreaming of the magnificent sunrise/sunset view on the beach!

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Carrier mat with low tack adhesive.
60-degree blade.
Glue
A3 Black card between 160 and 250gsm – two sheets.
A4 smooth white card approx. 160gsm or whatever weight will fit through your printer – 9 sheets.
Optional A4 – 3 sheets if you wish to print out the reference images.

We suggest printing all the A4 papers a few hours or even the day before you want to cut as there are large blocks of ink and we want the paper to be completely dry before cutting so that the cuts are crisp and clean. Download the paper templates here.

To get started, gather all the supplies needed and download the files here and unzip.

Below are also three reference images showing the numbered parts.
These can either be printed or opened on your computer.

Cutting the Design

All of the files for this design will be cut in the same way. Each file consists of a red rectangle which represents the whole area of the paper you are cutting from and one or two black objects which are the pieces we want to cut out. All except one of the cut files are to be cut from papers we have printed ourselves with blocks of colour in set areas. Because the whole of the paper is not coloured we need to be sure that we cut from the correct area so we will use the Whole Area as our option for cutting and we will set the origin precisely on the front right corner of the paper.

1. Place the printed sky-left paper on the carrier mat and place into the cutter. Set the origin exactly on the front right corner of the paper where the image below shows the red X. The centre of the X is your origin point, not the corner of the printed area.

2. Open the file sky-left.scpro2.

3. We need to set the cutting option to Whole Area (1). Select the black coloured button (2). And then click on the scissors icon to open the Cut Out window (3).

4. Make sure that the Use Weeding Frame option is not checked and then click on the Cut Out button.

5. Place the paper sky-right on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

6. Open the file sky-right.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

7. Place the paper sea-back on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

8. Open the file sea-back.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

9. Place the paper sea-middle on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

10. Open the file sea-middle.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

11. Place the paper sea-left on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

12. Open the file sea-left.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

13. Place the paper sea-right on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

14. Open the file sea-right.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

15. Place the paper sky-lower on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

16. Open the file sky-lower.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

17. Place the paper sky-top on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

18. Open the file sky-top.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

19. Place the paper sky-middle-and-sun on the mat. Set the origin to the front-right corner of the paper.

20. Open the file sky-middle-and-sun.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

21. All that remains to cut now is the actual silhouette of the palm trees and beach. This we will cut from one of the pieces A3 black card. Place the card on the mat. Set the origin to the front right corner of the paper.

Open the file palm-trees-silhouette.scpro2. Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

22. If you have a smaller machine that will not cut the full width of an A3 card (420mm, 16.5inches) then you may need to rotate the file before cutting so that it will cut in portrait format rather than landscape. We have provided a file that is already rotated for you, open palm-trees-silhouette-rotated.scpro2.

Make sure that the Whole Area is set, select the black coloured button and cut out.

Assembling the Design

Our first step is to assemble the top of the box. For this, we need the smaller purple piece, the largest square of patterned card and the largest square of pale lilac card. Two butterflies cut from the pale lilac and two matching butterflies cut from the patterned card.

1. Take one of the sheets of A3 black card, this will be our back piece to stick all the parts to.

2. Take parts 1 and 2, which make up the back of the sky.

3. Stick part 1 to the top left of the black card.

4. Stick part 2 so that it buts up to part 1. Don’t worry if there is a little extra black card showing on the right-hand edge as this will be covered when we add our palm trees.

5. Take parts 3, 4 and 5 which make up the back part of the sea.

6. Stick part 3 so that it meets the bottom of part 1 (the sky) and fits the left-hand edge of the black card.

7. Stick part 4 so that its left edge fits the right edge of part 3.

8. Take part 5 and stick so that it meets the edge of part 4.

9. The background elements are now all in place, ready for us to add in detail. Don’t worry about where the black card is still showing, we will cover this in the next stages.

10. Take parts 6 and 7. These will give the effect of waves and ripples on the sea.

11. FStick part 6 so that it fits the left edge of the underneath part 3 and meets the bottom edge of the sky. Again, don’t worry about where there is a part of the black card showing at the bottom.

12. Take part 7 and stick to the right-hand side of the sea, again making sure that the top of the part meets the bottom of the sky.

13. Take part 8. And stick to the right-hand edge of the sky and make sure it meets the top of the sea.

14. Take part 9. And stick to the top left of the sky.

15. Take part 10. nd stick so that it meets the right-hand edge of the sky and sits a little below part 9.

16. Take part 11 and stick so that it fits the left-hand edge, overlaps the bottom of part 9 and sits just above the horizontal join of the back of the sky parts 1 and 2.

17. Take part 12 and stick so that it fits the left-hand edge, just overlaps part 11 and covers the horizontal join of the back of the sky.

18. Take part 13 and stick so that it meets the left-hand edge and sits between part 12 and the top of the sea.

19. Take part 14, the sun and stick so that it covers the remaining vertical join in the sky and meets the top of the sea. The small area of black that remains in the middle of the sea will be covered by one of the fronds of the palm trees.

20. Now all that remains is to place the palm trees silhouette over the background.

21. Because of the size of the cut-out and its complexity, we suggest you do not try to add glue to all of it in one go. Instead, add glue and position the cut out in sections.

Add glue to the back of the right side of the frame and the sections of land and glue in position.