Santa over the rooftops shadow box SVG
Santa in his sleigh behind a leaping reindeer, crossing a huge moon above the rooftops, seen through a round window: the moon and stars, a church and a terrace of houses, a row of nearer roofs, the sleigh in the air above two snowy firs, and a snowman and a small fir in the drift 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.
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 3, “Rooftops”, the slowest: at 0.8 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Snowman and drift”, fills the most of the view, 42% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Moon and stars | A whole sheet with holes for: 7 × Plain disc | over 2 mm | 19% |
| 2. Church and terrace | Rolling ground, with: Church with a steeple and Village row of five houses | 1 mm | 7% |
| 3. Rooftops | Rolling ground, with: House with a chimney, Row of three storefronts and Cute house with a scalloped roof | 0.8 mm | 9% |
| 4. Santa and firs | Rolling ground, with: Santa in his sleigh with a reindeer, Classic pine tree and Classic three-tier Christmas tree | 1.5 mm | 8% |
| 5. Snowman and drift | A gentle slope, with: Snowman silhouette with a broom and Simple pine tree | 0.9 mm | 42% |
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
Santa, his sleigh and the reindeer are one piece, about 9 cm long at 8 inches, hanging from the top of its sheet on one thread of card about 1.6 mm wide that meets the reindeer’s antler. The moon is one large hole in the back sheet, placed so that the sleigh shows dark against it: put a light, or a sheet of pale yellow paper, behind. The sleigh sheet is about 1.5 mm at its finest. The roofs on the third sheet are the fine cutting, at about 0.8 mm, with their windows cut through, and the snowman at the front is about 0.9 mm. The round window is cut in every sheet but the back one.
- 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 Santa’s sleigh scene?
This one is square with a round window, and the sleigh crosses a moon that fills the sky, behind one reindeer. The Santa’s sleigh scene is a wide one with two reindeer high over a town, and in the Santa at the cabin scene the sleigh stands in the snow.
Does the sleigh have to hang on a thread?
Yes, unless it touches something else: it is in the air, and every sheet has to be one piece. The thread runs from the reindeer’s antler to the top of the frame.
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.
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