Home Decor Christmas Themed Shadow Box

Hi everyone!  How's your Christmas shopping coming along?  If you need an idea for a unique gift this Christmas, how about making a shadowbox for someone special.  They can display it every year and think of you.  Or, keep it for yourself to enjoy year after year.

This one is a little tricky, so lay out all the pieces and, like a puzzle, dry fit them together.  Everything will fit perfectly once you figure how they work together.  I hope these pictures below will help you easily align everything.

view from bottom

view from top

Be sure to glue the inside portions of the house together first.  See photo below.

Next, glue the three outer sides.

Then glue the roof down, and set aside to dry.  (TIP:  I have my shadowbox sitting on a non-stick mat to keep any seeping glue from adhering it to my work surface.)

Prime chipboard with white gesso.  This step is optional, but as a mixed media artist, I find that it will give me a clean, smooth surface with tooth to accept any layers I decide to add, even if I decide to glue papers down.

Cut a piece of 12x12 paper to fit inside each cubby.  I used Bo Bunny's Snowy Serenade Overture paper, but you can use whatever paper you have on hand.  You may have noticed that I have not adhered these down yet because I want to paint the box with a coordinating color.

Remove the pieces of paper and number them to correspond to each cubby.  This will make it easier to replace them with less opportunity to make a mistake.  I did not number the triangle piece as it is the only one shaped like that.

I like to use my Xyron 510 sticker machine to run my papers through.  This will make it really quick and easy to add them later, when I get the back side finished.  Run all your paper strips and pieces that will fit through the Xyron 510 sticker maker.  

Cut strips of music paper to fit the roof and adhere.  

Cover the bottom and sides of the shadowbox, turning excess paper to the back, as shown.  

Cut paper to fit the triangle shape and adhere to top portion of shadowbox on the back, as shown. 

Cut a separate piece of the same paper to fit the bottom half of the house.  If your paper has a pattern, try to match it up or at least align the paper so it looks pleasing to the eye.  You can disguise the seam with lace or some of the chipboard Border Sticks that GSL carries.

I've decided to paint the inside cubbies with a color to match the background paper.  I didn't have the exact color, so I just mixed up a color to match.  You can see where I was testing colors on the back of some of the cubbies where it will later be covered with the paper.

Now it's time to adhere those papers that were cut and numbered to fit in each cubbie that was also numbered to correspond.

Cut two pieces of shell borders to fit along top of roof, and miter the center pieces to fit together.  Use a makeup sponge to dab white gesso over border and, while gesso is still wet, sprinkle ultra-fine gold glitter over it.  (TIP:  Catch extra glitter in a coffee filter and use the filter to pour it back into its bottle.)  Repeat this for both sides, since both sides will show above the roof line.

Glue border sticks to roof line, as shown.  Don't worry if the miter isn't perfect.  It will be covered in the next step.

Use makeup sponge to add white gesso to both sides of snowflake and cover with the white crystal snow glitter, then glue to center of roof top, covering the mitered join.  I also added strips of white Dresden border to the three horizontal shelves, as shown.

Cut seven snowflakes from the snowflake border from the Winter Shape Set, and repeat process as for the large snowflake above.

Adhere along seam line where square and triangular papers meet.

I thought the snowflake border looked a little lonely, so I repeated the process on three more snowflakes of different sizes and glued them to the back, as shown.

Glue metal feet to base of shadowbox with E-6000 glue.  See photo of finished project.

Use white gesso and white crystal snow glitter to decorate more snowflakes and part of the snowflake border.

When dry, adhere the snowflake border and snowflakes inside the cubbies, as shown.  You can always make more if needed.

Use a craft knife to separate the reindeer from the Santa's Sleigh Border.

Paint and glitter the reindeer, again using the same process of white gesso and gold ultra fine glitter.

Glue reindeer feet to cubbie with white snowflake paste, as shown.

Decorate with whatever embellishments you wish to use, and change it up for whatever the season or theme.  Here a some close-ups of each little cabbie.  Each one is a little scene.

side view of shadow box

Supplies Used:
GSL House Shadow Box
GSL Santa's Sleigh Border
GSL Border Sticks Shell
GSL Snowflake Shape Set
GSL Winter Shape Set
GSL Snowflake Border
Xyron 510 Sticker Maker machine
DecoArt Media White Gesso
DecoArt Media White Tinting Medium
Miss Lillian's Chanel Chock Paint
PVA white glue (any brand)
12x12 scrapbook paper (Bo Bunny)(Colorbok)(Paper Studio)
Gold Ultra Fine Glitter
White Crystal Snow Fine Glitter
Baroque Dresden Border White
Snowflake Paste (Finnabair)
E-6000 glue
Christmas embellishments (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Tim Holtz, etc.)

I know this post is quite long and full of pictures, but I believe a picture is worth a thousand words, and I know from my own experiences that sometimes when I refer to something that is unfamiliar to you, a picture of it would have been helpful.  So, if you made it this far, thanks for staying with me.

I hope you enjoyed my project today and that you have been inspired to make a little Christmas-themed shadowbox for display in your home this holiday.  I plan to sit mine on my fireplace mantel.  What will you do with yours?

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful holiday season!!!

Barbara