Looking for a perfect Mother’s Day gift? Well I have it for you ~ a family tree. Sometimes Moms and Grandmas can be hard to buy for, but I can guarantee they will cherish this gift. As many of you know I love creating shadow boxes. I love the dimension and of course cutting and assembling SVG Cuts files. On this project I used the Print2Cut feature on my Sizzix eclips. I will share another option if you do not have this feature on your machine. So sit back and get ready to have some family fun!
SVG Collections Used
Attic Treasures SVG Kit
My Happy Garden Hideaway SVG Collection
Iris Fold SVG Kit
Happy Birthday To You SVG Kit
Retired Freebie Halloween Tree (Click Here To Download)
Supplies Used
- 12×12 Shadow Box Frame
- Adhesive
- Patterned and Solid Papers
- Foam Core
- Chip Board (I use cereal boxes)
- Twine
- Gems
- Printer (optional)
- Sewing Machine (optional)
Dimensions
| Attic Treasures SVG Kit - 12x12 Scrapbook Page | ||
| background_bottom.svg | 11.000" w x 11.003" h | light blue |
| My Happy Garden Hideaway SVG Collection | ||
| picket_fence_long.svg - Cut 2 | 7.183" w x 1.090" h | craft brown |
| Iris Fold SVG Kit - Birthday Flower Card | ||
| petals1.svg | 10.119" w x 10.082" h | green patterned paper |
| petals2.svg | 10.119" w x 10.082" h | green patterned paper |
| petals3.svg | 10.119" w x 10.082" h | green patterned paper |
| petals4.svg | 10.119" w x 10.082" h | green patterned paper |
| petals5.svg | 10.119" w x 10.082" h | green patterned paper |
| background.svg | 9.583" w x 9.156" h | green patterned paper |
| background.svg | 9.583" w x 9.156" h | chipboard |
| frame_top.svg | 9.567" w x 8.696" h | cream |
| frame_top.svg | 9.741" w x 9.213" h - shadow 7 | cream patterned paper |
| frame_top.svg | 10.061" w x 9.592" h - shadow 8.5 | craft brown |
| (for leaves) | ||
| petals1.svg | Import at 3.951" w x 3.937" h - break apart and keep only leaf shape. Remove circle and dashed lines from this shape. See Step 5 in Instructions for details | this is the cut |
| Retired Freebie Halloween Tree | ||
| halloween_tree_bottom.svg - unclick proportions - flip horizontal | 5.535" w x 5.713" h | craft brown |
| Ryan's Play Date SVG Kit - Playful Box | ||
| clouds.svg | 2.858" w x 2.519" h | white |
| kite_top.svg | 2.446" w x 1.760" h | yellow pattern paper |
| kite_bottom.svg | 2.446" w x 2.014" h | green patterned paper |
| Happy Birthday To You SVG Kit - Three Tier Cake Box | ||
| flower_petals.svg - Cut 3 | 2.098" w x 1.370" h | light blue |
Instructions
- I picked up my 12x12 white shadow box frame at Joanns. Michaels and Hobby Lobby also carry them. Adhere a 12x12 piece of patterned paper to your shadow box backer.
- Cut the background shape and ink edges. I used foam core under this shape to pop it off the background.
- Cut the fence and apply to the background.
Cut the elements for the iris fold. In the assembly video (Click Here For Video). Mary applies glue to each piece. I decided to stitch each piece. I came in about .25", not only did it save from me gluing, it also looks great! If you have a sewing machine and have not stitched paper give it a try, it is great fun. If you do not have a sewing machine glue as in the assembly video. Cut the background in both a patterned paper and chipboard and adhere to each other. Assemble the iris fold. Add a layer of foam-core under the chipboard and adhere to the background shape.- Cut the tree trunk and tree outlines, ink and assemble. I added two layers of foam tape under the tree outline to pop it off.
- Now comes the fun part...Print2Cut!
- First off watch this video Leo created as a refresher (Click Here For Video)
- Import the petals1.svg file and size to 3.951 X 3.937. Select and hit break apart. Delete all the pieces except for the one that resembles a leaf. Select the dashed line and circle and delete. This will be the shape you cut.
- Now duplicate the shape and add a shadow of 1. This is called a "bleed" in the printing world. This will be the shape you print - it is slightly larger so when you cut it will not give you any white areas on the edges.
- Now color the leaf. I did some experimenting and tried different greens. I selected CCFF66 in Ecal.
- Type the names and birth dates. I used the font Adobe Garamond Bold Italic for the name & Adobe Garamond Regular for the date. I also did a few tests on the font color and selected 663300 in Ecal.
- Take both the "cut" leaf and "print" leaf and duplicate for your total number of leaves.
- Now do the print and cut.
- Hide the print layer and cut each leaf out of the chipboard (I use cereal boxes). Adhere the printed leaves to the chipboard, ink edges and adhere to the tree. I added foam tape.
- Note: If you do not have Print2Cut no worries - cut the leaves and hand write the names. I did a tree in the past and did calligraphy on the leaves.
- Cut, ink and assemble the clouds, kite and flowers and adhere. Watch this video for the flower assembly (Click Here For Video). I added some twine to the kite, fence and some gems to the flowers. I also popped off the clouds & kite by adding foam tape.
Design Tips
Amy McCabe - SVGCuts Design Team Member
- I used a solid color for my background cut – the tree is very busy so this helps to balance things out.
- When selecting papers for the iris fold tree I kept to a similar color pallette. All 5 of my papers have dots on them. Two of the five are less busy papers and I intermixed those among the other papers.
- This project would also make a great scrapbook page for a family album.
- Don’t forget to save your SCUT file – just in case you have to expand the family tree.
Once you get the hang of the print2cut you will love it. Hope you give this project a try. This one is going to my sister-in-law, Janice, who lives in New Mexico and know she will love it!
- Amy
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