Free shadow box template

Butterflies and blossom shadow box SVG

Butterflies among the blossom in spring: a big sun at the back, one butterfly far off above a round tree, a blossom tree with a second butterfly beside it, a large butterfly resting on a daisy in the middle, and a branch of blossom reaching in over tulips and flowers at the front. 5 sheets of card, cut and stacked with a gap between each, make the picture. The files are free, and every part of the scene can be moved, swapped or resized below before you download.

Butterflies and blossom shadow box: 5 layered sheets seen from the front

Download the SVG files

5 sheets at 8 × 8 in, zipped, with a note on putting them together.

Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.

The 5 sheets

Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 5 is the front. Each one is a single piece with the same frame round its edge, so they line up when stacked. The colours shown are the “Blue dusk” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 5, “Blossom branch and tulips”, the slowest: at 0.7 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Blossom branch and tulips”, fills the most of the view, 28% of it.

Sheet	What is on it	Narrowest part	Seen from the front
1. Sun	A whole sheet with holes for: Plain disc	over 2 mm	24%
2. Far butterfly	Rolling ground, with: Butterfly silhouette and Round tree silhouette	0.8 mm	12%
3. Blossom tree	Rolling ground, with: Cherry blossom tree and Monarch butterfly	1.1 mm	18%
4. Large butterfly	Rolling ground, with: Daisy with stem and leaves and Classic butterfly with open wings	1.2 mm	15%
5. Blossom branch and tulips	A gentle slope, with: Blossom branch with buds, Three spring tulips, Grass with flowers and Tulip border	0.7 mm	28%

Measured from the files at 8 × 8 in. The narrowest part is the thinnest neck of card that holds anything on; sharp tips are not counted. “Seen from the front” is the share of the picture that sheet fills once the sheets in front of it are in place.

Will it cut at your size?

The download is 8 × 8 in. The scene maker above makes the same scene at any of these sizes; the thinnest part scales with it.

Frame opening	Each sheet	Narrowest part	Depth needed	Fits a 12 × 12 in mat	Rule of thumb
6 × 6 in	152.4 × 152.4 mm	0.5 mm	17 mm	Yes	Too fine: choose a larger size
20 × 20 cm	200 × 200 mm	0.7 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in	203.2 × 203.2 mm	0.7 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
23 × 23 cm	230 × 230 mm	0.8 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
25 × 25 cm	250 × 250 mm	0.9 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed

Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.

Making this one

The large butterfly rests on the daisy and is joined to it, so it needs no thread; the two behind it each hang on one thread from the top of their sheets. Its wings are cut through between the veins, and that sheet is about 1.2 mm at its finest at 8 inches, so lift it from the mat slowly and curl the wings forward a little before you stack the sheets. The sheet with the far butterfly is about 0.8 mm at its finest and the tulips at the front 0.7 mm. The branch of blossom grows in from the frame.

Cut all 5 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
Put strips of 3 mm foam tape round the border of sheet 1 and press sheet 2 onto it with the edges level. Carry on to sheet 5.
Fit the stack into a deep frame with the front sheet against the glass. For a light box, run a strip of warm white LEDs round the inside of the frame behind the stack.

The zip includes these steps as a text file, each sheet as its own SVG and all 5 side by side in one SVG. More on paper, frames and lights is on the shadow box page.

The parts, on their own

Everything in the scene comes from the free SVG library, where each has its own page and file:

Questions

How is this different from the Butterfly garden scene?

This one is square, with one large butterfly on a daisy as the subject and blossom round it. The Butterfly garden scene is upright, with four smaller butterflies flying over rows of sunflowers, tulips and daisies.

Can I change the butterflies?

Yes. Select one in the maker and choose Swap: six butterflies are under Birds and insects, some with the wings cut through and some solid. Do not make any of them much smaller than the far one here: under about 3 cm tall at 8 inches the bodies are too fine to cut.

Can I sell boxes I make with it?

Yes. Finished pieces are yours to sell. The files themselves may not be sold or shared; send people to this page. See the licence.

More shadow box scenes

All scenes and the scene maker