Jennifer Maker Paper Flower Shadow Box

Instructions

STEP 1: Become MY FREE PAPER FLOWER SHADOW BOX DESIGNS

Kickoff, download my gratis Newspaper Blossom Shadow Box pattern from my free resources library, it’southward design #369. My blueprint file includes some hand-lettered quotes y’all can apply to the glass of your shadow box frame too as my popular paper rose design, which I volition be using in this tutorial.

This is what my hand-lettered quotes await similar in Design Space.

This is what my paper rose design looks like in Design Space.

If you rather use a different paper blossom design, I have many gratis paper flower designs that you can use to make your paper flower shadow box.

TIP:
If yous are non sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Infinite, spotter this helpful video training series I made. If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, hither’s how to download and upload an SVG file to the Cricut Blueprint Space app.

Pace 2: SIZE YOUR PAPER FLOWERS

Ane of the well-nigh pop questions I get from crafters is “How many newspaper flowers should I make to make full my shadow box frame?” Well I am going to walk you through my fool-proof method for determining the number of newspaper flowers you need to make to make full any size shadow box.

To do this, I am going to start by cutting and assembling ane paper rose. Later on you have uploaded my paper rose design in Blueprint Space, click “Brand It.”

If you are using a Maker 3 or Explore 3 machine, y’all will exist asked if you are cut on mat, off mat, or a combination of both. Select “On Mat.”

On the Preview screen, change the paper size to 8.5″ x 11″, which is the size of cardstock I purchased for this project, and then click “Go on.”

Select “Medium Cardstock – 80 lb” for your base of operations cloth.

For the pressure I always select “More than” to get a nice, clean cut.

Load your fine-signal blade into clamp B of your automobile.

Place a slice of cardstock on a LightGrip (blue) Machine mat. You lot can besides use a StandardGrip (greenish) Machine mat.

Employ your hands or a brayer to secure the cardstock to the mat.

Load the mat into the machine and press the load/unload push.

Printing the “go” push button when it begins to blink.

After your newspaper rose has finished cutting, printing the load/unload button to remove the mat.

To remove the cardstock from the mat, flip the mat over and slightly bend the mat back to release the cardstock.

Using a paper quilling tool, or my DIY Quilling Tool, identify the outside end of the paper rose into the quilling tool.

Begin rolling the paper rose around the quilling tool until you get to the finish.

Pull the rolled paper rose off the quilling tool to remove it.

Add hot gum to the bottom of the rolled paper flower and then place the circle piece on peak the hot glue. To avoid burning whatever fingers, I highly recommend wearing hot glue finger protectors.

Manipulate the petals by spreading them out. You can besides utilise a small wooden dowel to curl the petals.

I am using a 1/eight’ wooden dowel to roll my petals by rolling the petals around the wooden dowel.

NOTE:
Some crafters find it easier to curlicue the petals before rolling the newspaper flower on the quilling tool. Either way is fine.

And here is my pretty paper rose. Now I am going to measure out the width and length of my flower. My paper rose measures 1.5” x 1.5”.

Catch your shadow box frame and open up the back. Measure the height and width of the interior of the frame. Observe that my shadow box frame has a removable interior frame. Y’all want to measure the peak and width within this frame.

The interior of my frame measures 9.5” x nine.five”. To determine the amount of flowers I need for the width, I will divide the interior measurement of the frame width, which is nine.five”, by the width of the paper rose, which is one.5. And so 9.v divided by i.5 equals vi.33, which I am going to round up to seven.

I’m going to exercise the same thing to determine the number of roses I need for the height. Divide the interior frame height by the acme of the flower. Since the summit of my rose and frame is the same equally the width, I know I will need 7.

Now take the number of newspaper roses for the width and multiply it by the number of paper roses needed for the pinnacle. For my frame, multiplying 7 x 7 gives me 49. This is the number of roses I am going to cut for my newspaper flower shadow box. I bet you didn’t call back you would be doing some math today.

If you discover that your assembled paper flower looks too small-scale or also big for the size frame you are using, become dorsum to Blueprint Space and alter the size.

To change the size of the newspaper rose pattern, click on the design and then utilize your mouse to adapt the size by dragging the double ended arrow icon on the lower right side of the bounding box, too known every bit the resize handle.

Y’all can also type a new peak or width measurement in the tool bar at the top of the canvas. Just brand sure to keep the lock locked to maintain the aspect ratio of the design.

Cut the new size y’all created for your paper flower, assemble, and measure just like we did before.

If you are using a different size frame, below are quantities of newspaper roses you lot will need for different frames. The “broad” measurement is how wide your paper rose will exist assembled. The “tall” measurement is the height you need to change your paper rose design to in Design Infinite.

Notation:
Everyone rolls paper flowers differently. These quantities are estimates based on the finished width size of the flower. It is also important to notation that the larger the flower, the taller it will be. For example, a paper rose that is 8″ tall in Blueprint Space volition need a shadow box frame with a superlative of 2″.

Footstep 3: Cutting YOUR Newspaper FLOWERS

At present that I know the quantity of the paper flowers I need to make for my paper flower shadow box, I am going to return to Design Space to cut the remaining roses.

Based on the size of my paper rose design, I tin can fit two rose designs onto one sheet fo eight.5″ x eleven” cardstock. I know this because the height of the flower measures just over five.iii” and my cardstock is 11″. So 5.3″ multiplied past 2 equals simply under 11″ or ten.half dozen” to be exact. I am going to duplicate my rose design to make sure. To duplicate the paper rose blueprint, select the pattern and click duplicate at the top of the layers panel.

Now I’chiliad going to click “Make It” to see if two roses will fit onto 1 sheet of cardstock. Click “On Mat” on the next screen.

On the Prepare screen, alter the paper size to 8.five” ten 11″ on the left side of the screen.

Notice that the design has been moved and rotated to fit our new newspaper size. I can definitely fit 2 paper roses on one sail of cardstock.

To cut 50 flowers, I can change the number of “project copies” in the upper left corner from one to 25 then click “Apply.” Make sure your paper size remains 8.5″ x 11″.

OMBRE EFFECT

What if you want to create an ombre effect with your newspaper flower shadow box? If you don’t already know, an ombre issue is the visual gradation from a light color to a nighttime color or vice-versa.

I remember it’s really pretty, so let me testify you how!

Back in Blueprint Infinite let’due south commencement with three roses. Select one rose and click duplicate similar nosotros did to make two more than roses.

If you think, my shadow box takes seven rows of roses, top to bottom. Well three doesn’t divide every bit into seven. Therefore, I am going to make the bottom iii rows a dark red, the middle two rows a medium red, and the height two rows a lighter red.

Select ane of the paper rose designs and so click on the scarlet next to Basic Cut in the Functioning department of the tool bar at the top of the Canvas.

Now allow’s change that to the medium ruby-red from the drop downward material color choices.

Click on a different paper rose blueprint and change the color of this rose to the lightest cerise from the fabric color choices.

Y’all should take three rose designs with three different shades of red like mine.

We will start with the darkest rose design. We need 21 of these. So instead of duplicating it 20 times, I’ll show you an easier way.

Indistinguishable it iv times, then group those four flowers and duplicate the group four times to get 25, It never hurts to take extra flowers in case of mistakes along the way.

Next, we will duplicate the other ii shades of red. We demand 14 of each. And then nosotros will select them both by dragging a bounding box over them. And so we will indistinguishable them six times, which gives united states seven of each shade. Now grouping all of those together and duplicate in one case and now we have 14 of each color.

We are at present fix to cut our paper flowers.

Y’all will need seven sheets of carte stock for the lightest ruddy rose and seven sheets for the medium ruddy rose. You lot volition demand eleven sheets of the darkest red rose. To cut the roses, follow the same steps I walked you lot through to cut our single paper rose.

Annotation:
Cutting all my paper roses took me approximately i hour and 30 minutes. This fourth dimension tin can vary depending on your speed and if you have more than one mat to cutting with.

If you run into any problems cutting your cardstock I’ve got you covered. Bank check out my Cricut Tips & Tricks for Cleaner Cuts, a handy guide to ensure you lot go the cleanest and all-time cuts from your Cricut.

Step 4: Get together THE Paper ROSES

Now that we accept all our paper roses cut, it is time to get together them. Curling the paper rose petals is completely optional. I think it makes the roses await much more than realistic. I am going to show you what my paper rose looks like when I curl the petals before rolling the flower versus after rolling the flower.

ROLLING FLOWER THEN Curling PETALS

Offset we will roll the blossom then ringlet the petals.

Take hold of your quilling tool and take the outer end of the cardstock and slide it into the slot of your quilling tool.

Begin rolling the cardstock around the quilling tool.

When you come to the end of the strip, gently pull the rolled cardstock off the quilling tool.

Turn the paper rose over and add hot glue to the bottom.

Flip the round circle tab on pinnacle of the hot glue. Use hot glue finger protectors to avert burning your fingers. Go along holding until the hot mucilage has cooled.

Using a pocket-sized wooden dowel, scroll the stop of the petals around the dowel to give them shape. My dowel measures one-eighth-of-an-inch.

This is what my paper rose looks like.

CURLING PETALS And so ROLLING Blossom

Now let’southward curl the petals before we whorl the flower.

Simply like we did before, use a wooden dowel and roll the petals over the dowel to give them some shape.

Once that’s done, place the exterior end of the paper flower into the quilling tool.

Begin wrapping the paper rose around your quilling tool until you get to the end.

Add hot gum to the bottom of the paper rose. Flip the circular circle tab on top of the hot glue. Use hot glue finger protectors to avoid called-for your fingers. Continue belongings until the hot glue has cooled.

Footstep five: Adjust YOUR FLOWERS IN A SHADOW BOX

Once all your flowers are assembled, information technology is fourth dimension to lay them out and begin gluing them to the inside dorsum of the shadow box frame. Remove the back of the frame. Make sure you lay the dorsum of the frame on your work surface the hook is toward the superlative.

Accept the inner frame and identify it on top the frame back. You can apply some hot mucilage to keep it from moving if yous desire.

I am going to brainstorm by using my hot glue gun to add three rows of the darkest red color roses at the bottom of the frame.

At present I’chiliad going to take the medium cherry-red colour roses and mucilage ii rows.

And finally, I’yard gluing in two rose of low-cal red to terminate off the frame.

Stride six: CHOOSE AND CUT A QUOTE FROM VINYL

I love calculation a happy or encouraging quote to my paper flower shadow boxes. You can choose from one of my paw-lettered quotes included in this project or make your ain. The quotes included in my design file are sized for the 10″ x ten” shadow box frame in my supply list only you lot can resize them to fit your frame.

For this frame, I am going to use the word “love” and hide the other layers in the pattern file. I volition drag “love” off to the right, select everything I want to hibernate and click “Group”, then click on “heart icon” next to the new “Group” layer in the layers panel to hide it.

Click “Make It.”

Since I am using my Maker 3, and I am cutting with Smart Vinyl, I am going to select “Without Mat.”

Note:
If your vinyl is the aforementioned color on the forepart and back (gluey side), you can choose to apply your quote to the meridian of your glass or the inside of your glass. Some vinyl has a different color on the gummy side (back) so double-cheque prior to cutting for an inside glass application. If you utilize the quote to the inside of your glass, make sure to mirror your projection on the Set screen.

Click “Go along.”

For my base fabric, I am selecting “Smart Vinyl – Permanent.”

For the pressure I am irresolute it to “More.”

For Smart Vinyl, simply load the vinyl into the machine like you would a cutting mat. Make certain the backing is facing downward. If you have an optional Cricut Curl Holder for Smart Vinyl, attach it to your machine and feed your vinyl through the guides. Click the load/unload button.

Press the “go” button when it begins to wink.

When your vinyl has finished cutting, use the built-in trimmer on your ringlet holder to trim the vinyl, then remove it from the machine.

Weed your vinyl quote.

Apply transfer tape to the acme of the weeded design using my taco method. This is where I curl the transfer tape similar a taco and utilise the centre start. Use a scraper tool transfer the vinyl to the transfer tape.

Before adding the vinyl clean the glass with rubbing alcohol and a lint-gratuitous cloth or coffee filter. I apply coffee filters because they are lint-free.

Wipe the java filter on the glass to remove whatsoever residuum. Practise this to both sides of the glass.

Identify the glass back in the frame and add the newspaper flowers then close the frame.

Notation:
If you are applying your quote to the inside of your frame, apply the vinyl to the glass before putting information technology dorsum in the frame.

Plow the frame over and decide on the all-time placement for your quote. Remove the backing from the vinyl and place the quote on the glass.

Use a scraper tool to transfer the vinyl to the glass.

STEP vii: Prove IT OFF

And this is what my finished paper blossom shadow box looks like. Isn’t is beautiful?

Information technology looks simply as beautiful without a quote as well.

My newspaper flower shadow box tin can be used for practically whatever occasion. They make a wonderful souvenir. I am going to give my paper flower shadow box to my daughter to reminder her of how much I love her.