Turn a shadow box into a Christmas wonderland with your trusty Cricut! Let me show you how to make a Christmas Shadow Box with some layered cardstock, hot glue, and pipe cleaners!
Welcome back, crafty friends! You’ve reached Better Life Blog, and I’m Nancy, the founder and designer here.
If this is your first time here – welcome! Feel free to browse my collection of original SVG designs! Today, we’ll be putting together this Christmas Window Shadow Box, so that you can add a touch of whimsical décor to your home this holiday season.
What is a Shadow Box?
Traditionally, a shadow box is a display case for showcasing and protecting personal items like photos or memorabilia. Our Shadow Box layered crafts fit perfectly into shadow boxes – making for a beautiful 3D-like design.
Our Shadow Box SVG files are designed so that layers are cut onto different colored cardstock sheets, and then stacked to create a gorgeous masterpiece. You can take a look at some of our Shadow Box designs here (psst: our Eiffel Tower Shadow Box is one of our most popular ones!)
You can take a look at all of our Shadow Box designs here!
Materials List
Be sure to gather the following materials to complete this beautiful Christmas Shadow Box project:
- Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Weeding tools
- 9×9” Black Shadow Box Frame
- LED light strip
- Cutting mat
- Scissors
- Cardstock (use colors according to each layer on SVG file)
- Pipe cleaners
- “Christmas Window” SVG file (there is an option with a girl or boy looking out the window)
Instructions
Begin with assembling your shadow box frame so that it has some LED lighting. To do this, open the back of the frame and using a scraper, remove the canvas covered pad that is attached to the backing material. Feel free to discard or save for later use.
Add your light strip on the inside of the frame, all the way around the edges.
Upload your Christmas Shadow Box SVG into Cricut Design Space. The size of the design is already set if you are using a 9×9 shadow box, otherwise you’ll have to adjust accordingly.
Select the “Make It” button and cut each design according to the color cardstock indicated.
Once all of your cardstock pieces are cut out, weed to remove the unnecessary pieces.
Layer each one, according to the order you see on the design (we like to refer to the PNG file that comes with our file!). When you look at it from left to right, the most left image is the top layer and it works its way down.
To layer: glue a pipe cleaner (about 4 – 5 inches long) along the edges of each cardstock layer. Then add glue to the top of the attached pipe cleaner, then add the next cardstock layer on top. This gives spacing between each layer.
Place your 3-D stack into your frame and light it up!