Row of jack-o-lanterns shadow box SVG
Five carved pumpkins in a row on Halloween night, each with a different face: a full moon and stars, two bare trees with three bats flying in from the side, an old tree with a face, a scowling lantern and a smiling one on the wall, three more in front of them, and a cat with its back arched and a small pumpkin at the front. 6 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.
6 sheets at 10 × 8 in, landscape, zipped, with a note on putting them together.
Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.
The 6 sheets
Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 6 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 “Halloween night” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 2, “Bare trees and bats”, the slowest: at 1.5 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 6, “Cat”, fills the most of the view, 22% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Moon | A whole sheet with holes for: 7 × Plain disc | over 2 mm | 35% |
| 2. Bare trees and bats | Rolling ground, with: Bare tree with even branches, Winter tree and Row of three bats | 1.5 mm | 5% |
| 3. Tree with a face | Rolling ground, with: Haunted tree with a face | over 2 mm | 6% |
| 4. Lanterns on the wall | Flat ground, with: Scary jack-o-lantern and Happy jack-o-lantern | over 2 mm | 9% |
| 5. Front lanterns | Flat ground, with: Jack-o-lantern with a toothy grin, Silly jack-o-lantern and Cute little pumpkin with a smile | 1.9 mm | 16% |
| 6. Cat | Flat ground, with: Halloween cat with an arched back and Pumpkin silhouette with a curly vine | 1.7 mm | 22% |
Measured from the files at 10 × 8 in, landscape. 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 10 × 8 in, landscape. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 8 in, landscape | 254 × 203.2 mm | 1.5 mm | 20 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.
Making this one
Five faces to cut: slanted eyes and pointed teeth, tall eyes and a smile with one tooth, triangle eyes and a toothy grin, one big eye and one small, and two dots and a smile. Each face is cut through, and the lanterns stand side by side with the sky behind most of them, so the orange back sheet shows through as their light. The lanterns are 5 to 6.5 cm tall at 10 by 8 inches and about 1.9 mm at their finest. With a craft knife, cut the eyes and teeth first and the outline last. The three bats are one piece, joined wing tip to wing tip, and the last of them runs into the frame, so nothing hangs on a thread. The bats and the far trees are about 1.5 mm at their finest and the cat about 1.7 mm.
- Cut all 6 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 6.
- 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 6 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
Can I cut it by hand?
Yes. The moon, the old tree and the lanterns are bold shapes of 1.9 mm or more, and the finest sheet, with the bats and the far trees, is about 1.5 mm at 10 by 8 inches. Print each sheet at full size, tape it over the card and cut through both.
Can I use the faces as patterns on their own?
Yes. Each lantern is a design in the library: see the pumpkin designs for all five as files of their own, and for three of the faces as loose pieces to stick on a real pumpkin.
How is this different from the other Halloween scenes?
Here the carved pumpkins are the subject, five of them in a row. The Haunted house scene has a crooked house on a hill, the Witch and moon scene a witch on her broomstick, and the Pumpkins on the porch scene pumpkins on the steps of a front door.
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.
Christmas house 
Paper boat on the waves 
Forest deer 
Christmas village 
Haunted house 
Under the sea