Welcome to day 14 of my 25 Days of Craftmas series! Today’s project is super easy. You just need a few supplies and about 15-20 minutes to complete the entire project!
Shadow boxes are great for vinyl. They allow you to create a 3-dimensional design by adding vinyl to the glass and then placing other items (like ornaments, bells, etc) behind the glass. For this project, I chose to add snow and lights. Isn’t it pretty?
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED
The first thing you’ll need to do is get the free SVG file you’ll use for this project. I keep all the SVG files I use for the projects I make in my SVG Library. These SVG files work with Cricut and Silhouette machines, as well as many others. This library is open to everyone and is free! You can access the library here. Look for the file called O Holy Night. It will either be listed under the Christmas category-25 Days of Craftmas 2018 – Day 14.
- Shadow Box (I got mine from Ikea)
- Vinyl (I used gold)
- Mini Light Set
- Snow blanket or Quilt Batting
- Hot glue gun
- Transfer Tape
- Electronic cutter (cricut explore, silhouette or other cutter)
- Cut File (available for free in my resource library)
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO
Open the design in your vinyl cutting software. To make it easier to apply the vinyl straight on the glass, we’re going to add positioning guides.
Draw a square the size of your glass and center the design inside of the square. Then, add two small squares and position one on the bottom left of the the larger square and the other on the bottom right, as shown below. Then, cut out your vinyl.
After the vinyl is cut, weed away the excess and apply the transfer tape.
Fold up a small section of transfer tape along the bottom of the vinyl decal, just enough to expose the positioning squares. Line the squares up the with glass. The bottom of the squares should be even with the bottom edge of the glass and the edges of the squares should be even with the edges of the glass.
Once you’ve got the squares in position, slowly pull off a little more of the backing. As you pull off the backing, use an application tool or scraper to push the vinyl down.
You want to press from the bottom of the design and go up. By doing it in small sections and pressing from the bottom up, you shouldn’t have any bubbles.
Remove a little more backing and repeat.
Continue this process until you’ve applied all of the vinyl.
Rub over the entire decal to be sure it has adhered to the glass, then remove the transfer tape.
Place the glass on a piece of a snow blanket and trim to size.
Glue the corner of the snow to the corner of the glass with a small amount of hot glue. Repeat on the other three sides.
Place the glass back into the frame.
Place the insert frame back into the frame. The edges of the insert frame should push down on the snow and help keep it in place.
Stretch the lights back and forth across the top of the frame They don’t have to stay exactly where you place them, you just don’t want them all bunched together. I also tried to keep the lights above the manger.
The lights I purchased have a timer, which is so cool! To make it work, you turn it on when you want it to start (say 5:00 in the evening). Once you turn it on, the timer is set. It will stay on for 6 hours and then shut off for 18. So every night, it will turn on at 5:00 and turn off at 11:00. I never have to remember to do it. 
If your lights have a timer, you can place the battery box inside the frame and then put on the back. If your lights don’t have a timer, you need to keep the battery box outside, so you can get to it easily.
It’s so pretty in the light.
But, it looks even better when it’s dark.
Did you enjoy this post? I’d love for you to pin it to your favorite pinterest board.
