Now that Thanksgiving is over, the next stop on this train ride of holidays is: Christmas! I absolutely love this time of year, it is my favorite! If you’ve been a follower of my past posts, you know that I get super excited about Christmas and Fall. But specifically, Christmas is my favorite, but don’t tell Fall, lol! 🙃
I found this really amazing file and I absolutely had to make it once I saw it! And what better way to ride into this Christmas season than on a beautiful, pastel, snowy, Christmas Train!! I’ll link the file here so that you can download it yourself. The file is technically free, but I highly suggest you leave a “tip” for Miss Mandee using the link in her listing to thank her for the wonderful file! It’s pretty easy to put together and there’s a YouTube video that you can follow along with as well. So you won’t get the full step-by-step with me, but you’ll get the most important steps. Join me as we put this together and create our very own train ride into Christmas!! ALL ABOARD!! *train whistle*
Supplies:
- Cardstock Warehouse cardstock papers:
- Colorplan 100lb: Candy Pink & Powder Green
- Lessebo Colours 100lb White
- Gold Touch MirriSparkle
- Gold MirriCard Mirror
- Translucent Vellum 48lb
- Acetate
- Adhesives
- Hot Glue
- Liquid Glue
- Foam Dots
- Faux Snow
- Gold Pearls
- Flower Dies
- Train SVG from Designs by Miss Mandee
Start by uploading the SVG file and making any adjustments you want to make. I removed all of the Halloween bits since I am making a Christmas train. If you want yours to be like mine, slice a rectangle out of the top boxes/lids so we can peek through and see all of the Christmas goodies, and cut a rectangle slightly larger than the opening out of acetate. I cut the rectangles for the inside of the side windows out of vellum so they would be slightly see-through as well. Then, I coordinate everything that I’m going to cut by color, cut everything out, and sort it later. Now I have all of my pieces in one place, ready to score and glue. It’s like a crafting version of “mise en place.”
I’m starting out with the train cars which act as the base for the train. Add your window panes to the inside, fold on the score lines, and glue the boxes together.
This is what mine looks like after I put all of my cars together. The boxes have little tabs and slits that allow it to open from the top so that you’re able to put real goodies in there, but I decided to permanently seal mine because I put those cute little shiny gold balls in there. I’m using mine as a decoration, but it could be used as an adorable gift box or luminary. Set those aside.
Now we’ll work on the front of the train. The gold piece is not included in the file, but I just measured a piece of paper that would wrap around the perimeter of the front of the train and added dotted lines so that it would wrap around more easily. You can omit this step if you wish. I also dded hot glue to the base. I did not see her do this, but I think it helps make everything more stable. I added roughly a full glue stick here to weigh it down.
I layered my wheels and added foam dots to the back of them so that they would pop out a little bit more. Then, glue the foam dots to the side of the car. Now all your train cars are complete!
I attached my cars together using two layers of mirror gold paper. I wanted it to be secure, and I only want a little space in between each of the cars. I did put the wheels on both sides, although one small lazy part of me wanted to do one side because it would be facing the window and no one would see the back. But my conscience wouldn’t let me do it.
And since we’re traveling into the Christmas season, we absolutely have to have a snowfall… because why not? So I used my hot glue gun and some artificial snowflakes I got from the dollar tree and placed little snow bits on my windows. I did that on each side of the windows and the tops of the train cars. I think it looks so beautiful! Also, I offset the side and top windows from her file using the “offset” feature on my cutting machine and created little borders. I think it makes it stand out a whole lot more. Again, this is optional.
And this is what it looks like from the side with everything added, and all complete. I even added the gold window perimeter to the front train car in the back. Because someone might see it, lol! It wouldn’t be mine if I didn’t add just a few handmade flowers, so I made a little cluster of flowers and leaves to add to the front car. Yes, I know that there are no flowers on real trains - BUT this is my imaginary Christmas Train - LOL!
Doesn’t this view from the top look heavenly?? It looks so pretty in my craft room. :-) We have now come to a complete stop. Please exit and pick up your bags from the rear car. I hope you enjoyed the ride!!! Special thanks to Mandee for creating this file!
But before you go don’t forget to tag us and Mandee if you create this train!
As always, thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you! If you are super fancy, tag us in your creations on Facebook or Instagram. You can use the hashtag #cardstockwarehouse to be featured on our page!
Toodles,