Hello lovely ladies !

Its been so long since I blogged so long I nearly forgot how to do it !! Not only that but I don’t know how to start except to say I have missed you all and apologize for not visiting.

For those of you that have followed me in the past a little update on my health, am finally without crutches yippee !!! am back to work a few days a week for a couple of hours at a time. Mr P has been amazing through it all and I have been spoilt rotten ( thoroughly deserved of course ) While I’ve been away I’ve been crafting for myself and I really enjoyed it I have to say . So much so I joined a few FB groups mainly about die cutting , as you all know I love my Cameo and was lucky enough to receive the Cricut Explore another electronic die cutting machine from my mum for Christmas so now its double trouble and double the mess.

Ok so why am I here ? well……….the lovely ladies on my FB groups have asked for a tutorial on how I make my shadow boxes , many asked for a video but I don’t have a camera of the video variety and I can just about manage my blog ! so here is my tutorial in picture form BE WARNED PHOTO HEAVY.

Before I continue I would just like to point out that I am no expert, this is the way I do it and I’m sure there is an easier way to do this so feel free to jump in and help out.

Ok here goes , what you will need

A picture frame ( I’m using a Ribba frame from Ikea 23 x23 cm )

An electronic cutting machine ( I’m using my Cameo , what a surprise ! )

Card stock of your choice I find 220gsm Canson to be adequate

Vellum at least 110 gsm

Led tea light or strip light mine are from ikea, I use the Ledberg strip light as you can stick it to the wall and you can make it as long or short as you like

Adhesive of your choice, I use my 3m ATG for this

Here is the finished product so you don’t fall asleep or get bored in the middle

I’ve used two Silhouette studio files, firstly the blinds Design ID #19600 and the children Design ID #69877 both can be found on the silhouete store both of these designs are by Hero Arts.

This is what the Ribba frame looks like taken apart,  its shown here without the glass or back cover.

The square paper frame insert is not used in this particular shadow box so go ahead and put it to one side .

In the Silhouette software I make a square 23 x23 cm and offset it to the desired size depending on how much or how little I want the central design to show . In order to weld the images we have to make a compound path otherwise when we press the weld button everything disapears . Thanks to you tube I was able to figure this out many moons ago as this kept on happening to me, thank goodness for you tube ! So for those of you that dont know how to make a compound path just select the inner square making sure that is in the centre of the larger square , you can use your align tool for this , then hold down the shift key and select the outer square both will become highlighted next select make compound path.

Ok so now we are ready to insert our first design in this case the blind

Make sure that the edges of the blind overlap slightly the inner frame otherwie they wont weld, select the weld button and you should end up with the picture below, hit the cut button and you’re good to go. I use speed 7 or 8 pressure 33 and speed 4 for this weight cardtock oh and I have to double cut too.

Were ready to make the second frame using the same procedure as for the first above just make sure that your images for the blind and the children are of a similar size internally so that they line up nicely in the frame.

Last but not least I cut a piece of vellum to fit the back of my frame which is 25 x 25 cm.

On to assembly

Here I have inserted the blind with the good side facing outwards and on top of that the wooden picture mount that comes with the frame its the third item in my second photo this gives depth to the images.

The children are placed on top of the photo mount and then secured with the metal clips inside the frame.

This is what it looks like with the vellum attached to the back, I use my atg gun to do this it sticks pretty well but can be removed easily it I want to change the inside. Just to point out that mine are sitting on a narrow shelf in my craft room they are not hanging because I like to have them lit by Led lights . If you want to hang them you can place the vellum directly on top of the last image and then close with the metal clips that way you are able to hang them

This is what they look like lit up

I was overwhelmed by the response to these boxes on FB and for all of your lovely comments and questions. I do hope this goes in some way to answering all of your questions but please feel free to leave comments and ask away. Please bare with me on replying as I am sharing these on three FB groups as it takes a little time getting back to you all.

Wishing you all well

Take care

Marie