Paper Cut Map Art

The weather [for the most part] is warming up and I cannot help but think of holidays now.  Travelling is one of my most favourite things to do, whether a quick city break or long adventures, so I'm pretty keen to have a few more travel-themed pieces of art on the wall.  I thought I'd start with a simple map mount for any picture to sit behind.  I travelled Australia [scarily nearly 10 years ago!], so this was my choice of design.

What I Used:

A4 sheet of white card

Printed Map / text

Craft knife / pencil / cutting mat / tape

I found a google image that gave me simple, but still defined outlines and messed about with it a bit to get an A5 size printed:

With a hard pencil, I traced the outlines of the images I wanted to transfer:

...and placed the image face down on to the back of the card that would be my mount.
With a soft pencil, I scribbled over where the traced lines were to transfer them, reflected, on to the back of the card [this would mean after cutting out the image, the correct side, without pencil marks would not be back to front!]:

Now, the fun begins.  Craft knife time and patience time.  Australia does not have rounded shores.  I started section by section, keeping the lines as close to those used as a template as possible:

....until the image was completely cut away, smaller Fraser Island, included:

For the background, some beautiful print fabric or a photo would be perfect, but until I can decide, I made a temporary text background on the computer:

...all fastened in place with a little washi tape:

I'm embarrassed to say it was hanging for a good 30 minutes before I spotted my mistake:

....had I not gone to the effort of reflecting the image so the pencil marks wouldn't show?
*blushes*

Have a great weekend - I think I need one.

see you next time x