A cardboard cutout stand-up is a life-sized image of a person or object. They are great to use at parties or events and make fun conversation pieces. You can buy stand-ups or have them professionally made, but it's very expensive. A life-sized stand-up can be made for a lot less with your own computer and printer.
Instructions
1. Find a high quality photo of the person you'd like to put on your stand-up. A photo taken with a high megapixel camera is better than a downloaded image. Use a plain, solid-colored background.
2. Close all your open programs and restart your computer. Open a grapics software program, like Photoshop. Choose the "Resize" option from the menu. Convert the life-size height of the person to inches. Enter the number of inches in the "Image Size" field. Alternatively, purchase a program to enlarge your photo, like Block Posters or Almost Breathing.
3. Print out the life-size photo in sections on an inkjet or color laser printer. If you'd rather have a single piece with no seams, take the image to a copy center like Kinko's.
4. Attach pieces of foam board or cardboard together to reach the desired height. Apply spray adhesive or white glue to the board. Attach the individual pieces or the blow up from your copy center to the board. Roll over pieces with a paint roller to remove any bubbles.
5. Cut around the image with a utility knife. Cut through both the paper and the board. Make several passes for a neat edge.
Tags: copy center, your computer