DIY tutorial

I received a question yesterday about the script I used for my paper dolls, so I thought I would write a post in the hopes that someone else might find my little shortcut useful.

For the cards, belly bands and envelopes I used the font Memoir.* I wanted the names on the paper dolls to match, but the paper I used was too thick to go through my printer. What to do?

I learned this trick in art class many years ago and it's great for when you want to transfer something but tracing is not an option.

1. Print out the text or image that you are wanting to use. For me, I just printed out all of the girls' names.

2. Cut your text/image down to a more manageable size. I left about a quarter inch of padding around my text.

3. Turn your piece(s) of paper to the back and shade it with a pencil. You want to make this fairly dark - see photo below.


4. Next, place your piece of paper (shaded side down) on top of the spot where you want to transfer your text/image. I used a bit of tape to keep things from slipping.

5. Take a pen and begin tracing over your text or image. You don't want to push too hard so that the pen goes through the paper, but definitely give it a bit of pressure. The idea is that as you trace, the graphite on the back of the piece of paper will transfer. If you do this step correctly, once you lift up your image/text, there should be a faint replica left behind.

6. The final step is to draw back over your transfer using whatever medium you prefer - pen, marker, paint, crayon, etc. I just used a black rolling ball pen.

I will admit that this was a bit tedious, but it was very important to me that everything matched (I'm most definitely Type A, can't you tell?). I hope some of you can find this useful!


*I did pay for this font since we plan on using it for all of our wedding paraphernalia, but there are many free fonts out there that are just as beautiful. One of my favorite free scripts is Quilline.