Shadow Box Art

CREATE BEAUTIFULLY WITH OMBRE SHADES OF PAPER WITH MY STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL AND VIDEO! THIS CRICUT SHADOW BOX ART IS SURE TO PLEASE IN YOUR HOME OR A SHADOW BOX GIFT IDEA. FREE CRICUT DS FILE INCLUDED!

Oh, how I lOVE working with multiple shades of paper to create the Ombrè effect. Many moons ago I recall falling in love with the look of Ombrè in painting classes. The technique is most common in sunsets and skies. YOU can do so much with Ombrè, the sky is the limit ↔ no pun intended 😁

Here is one Shadow Box Art Idea I created using shades of blue for the Ombrè effect. It made a beautiful gift for my Mom ♥

Shadow Box Art Ideas – So many!

We creatives seem to have a gazillion ideas running through our creative minds at any given time. One of my ideas was a spin-off of this project, only with dragonflies. Fun Fact ►Dragonflies have been around 300 million years. Whoaaaa!

I also thought to myself how perfect! I was not creating videos when I created the bluebird shadow box art idea so why not make another one only using dragonflies! win-win!

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to make the Cricut Shadow Box Art – Ombre Dragonfly and you can use my free Cricut Design Space Link.

Video of the Shadow Box Art

Supplies

• Shadow Box
• Brown tones paper set
• Glue
• Precision Tip Applicator Bottle (My favorite)
• Light grip cutting mat
• Cricut Explore Air or Cricut Maker
• Cricut DS File Link
• Glitter (Optional)

The Process

Designing

Locate my Cricut DS File link and connect with my Shadow Box Art project

To make this project just like mine, I used paper in any color for the heart to use as a template to trace onto my shadow box liner paper which will be black. This is a great opportunity to use that icky piece of 12″ paper you think you will never use lol! Still keep the heart in your scrap pile cuz you can still use it for trimming or smaller cut-outs in the future.

I wanted 4 shades of brown paper for the ombrè effect for this shadow box and 4 different dragonfly designs. In my design mind, I want to add a bit of bling on perhaps just one of the dragonfly designs. My thought process is due to the background will be black and one of the browns being a darker shade. Thinking some glitter-tipped wings will add a nice touch. We shall see!

Cutting

You have several different options on “how” you want to cut the dragonflies out. The end result is you want all 4 dragonflies in all 4 colors. It is difficult to guess how many dragonflies you will need. Your deciding factor may also be due to how much paper you have on hand and the size of your shadow box for your shadow box art project.

If you are really trying to save on paper I’d keep in mind if you start with the darkest color on the bottom of the heart you will need fewer dragonflies of that shade. You can always cut more but you can not un-cut!

Two groups of dragonflies in the file

The Cricut DS file I created for you has 2 groups of 4 colored dragonflies. A large group and a smaller group. I ended up using the smaller group for this shadow box art project.

To turn off a group layer simply click on the group of dragonflies on the DS mat and then in the layers panel click on the eye to turn that group’s layer off. I did this 4 times with large groups of dragonflies.

This left me with the smaller 4 groups of dragonflies. I then changed each group to the color of paper I was putting onto the Cricut mat. So as an example which you can see in my video, I used dark brown paper first and then cut all 4 groups of dragonflies.

Then proceeded which each remaining color of paper. While almost done making this project I realized I’d need one more group of the lightest color as it was the largest area left to add to the heart shape.

In total, I used 5 pieces of 12″ X 12″ paper for the dragonflies and 1 piece of 12″ X 12″ for the heart.

Pro Tip: You can ungroup/detach my colored sections of dragonflies and change the color or amount to suit your needs. I put them in colored groups so you could easily see each dragonfly type 👌

How many dragonflies did it take to make this project? Total: 326 WoW!

Do dragonflies smile!?!

So here we are enjoying some California sun in our pool and this cute little dragonfly comes to rest on Gary’s finger. Adorable right? I instantly switch to paparazzi mode and quickly capture as many photos as this little guy would allow.

Well, you tell me! Perhaps it’s just me being captured at the moment but I swear this dragonfly smiled at me! ♥

Weeding

The weeding process is simple and only slightly time-consuming.

• Turn mat upside down and slowly peel back the paper.
• Use a large scraper to remove the dragonflies and set aside

I then grabbed 4 small bowls and picked up each dragonfly by color and folded one of its wings in and placed it in the bowl for that color.

The one dragonfly design I wanted to add glitter to its wing I placed on a small paper plate instead of the bowl for the glitter process

Apply

Here comes the fun part! Crank up your favorite music or podcast and one by one pick up a dragonfly by its folded wing and dot some glue on the other wing and place it on the traced heart.

Before you know it, you’ll be done with your shadow box art project in no time and having fun while creating it!

Don’t forget to place the little guys over the traced line as you go. Have fun with this, place as many or as little as you want. Add more glitter or don’t use glitter.

The best part? You won’t have to dust it as it will be in the shadow box Ha! 😂

This shadow box art project really does make a nice gift idea. While I was creating this one, I thought to myself how beautiful it would be to use the print and cut feature instead and do 3 different types of hummingbirds!!!

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I appreciate your sharing and support ♥

If you have any questions or comments, please scroll all the way to the bottom of this post, or contact me on my YouTube video!

♥ Create with Love ♥