Free shadow box template

Christmas village shadow box SVG

A snowy village on Christmas Eve: houses and a church-like schoolhouse on the hill, fir trees, a snowman in the front garden and a sky of stars. 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.

Christmas village 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 “Snow” set; cut them in any card you like.

Sheet	What is on it	Narrowest part	Seen from the front
1. Night sky	A whole sheet with holes for: 9 × Plain disc	over 2 mm	37%
2. Far hills and firs	Rolling ground, with: 2 × Three Christmas trees in a row, Classic pine tree, Simple triangle Christmas tree and Simple pine tree	1.9 mm	6%
3. Village	Rolling ground, with: Village row of five houses, Schoolhouse with a bell, Log cabin house in the pines and Simple triangle Christmas tree	0.8 mm	10%
4. Cottage and tree	Rolling ground, with: Cute house with a scalloped roof, Christmas tree with a star on top, Lantern on a lamp post and Classic pine tree	1 mm	12%
5. Snowman	A gentle slope, with: Snowman silhouette with a broom, Stack of three presents, Classic three-tier Christmas tree and Short wide pine tree	0.9 mm	33%

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	0.6 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
20 × 20 cm	200 × 200 mm	0.8 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
8 × 8 in	203.2 × 203.2 mm	0.8 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
23 × 23 cm	230 × 230 mm	0.9 mm	17 mm	Yes	Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed
25 × 25 cm	250 × 250 mm	1 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

Cut it all in white card and light it from behind and the windows glow. The houses have small panes, so use a fresh blade and a slower speed on that sheet.

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

Will it fit a glass dome?

Choose the circle window in the maker and a square size that matches the dome base, then trim each sheet to the circle.

Can I add a name?

Not yet inside the maker. Cut a name from the library’s lettering and glue it to the front border.

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

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