This summer marks my third anniversary married to my wonderful husband. I’ll spare you all the details - but we were married a few hours before a Dead and Company show in 2019, and celebrated with our more adventurous friends at the show after our reception. Clearly - we are both Deadheads!
My dress was a gorgeous Tadashi Shoji wedding gown, hand painted to match my hippie theme by Taylor Ann Art @canvasbridal. The embroidered flowers on the dress were painted a gorgeous purple, with painted ombre accents of bright red, orange and yellow.
I decided to make a shadow box wedding couple for our “Wedding Wednesday” blog, with the colors of our wedding. I think this is a great idea for a friend’s anniversary gift. Here is a picture of my gorgeous wedding dress, which was used as my inspiration!
Supplies:
- Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock Papers
- 8.5” x 11” Rust Colorplan 100lb
- 8.5” x 11” Gialloro Sirio 80lb
- 8.5” x 11” Sunflower Lessebo 83lb
- 8.5” x 11” Mid Green Colorplan 100lb
- 8.5” x 11” Verdigris Materica 92lb
- 8.5” x 11” Sirio Ultra Black 104lb
- 8.5” x 11” Vino Sirio 80lb
- 8.5” x 11” Bagdad Brown 100lb
- 8.5” x 11” Comoscio Woodstock 105lb
- 8.5” x 11” White Diamond Print Glitter 104lb
- 8.5” x 11” Quartz Stardream 105lb
- 8.5” x 11” Silver Metallic Stardream 105lb
- 8.5” x 11” Vermiglione Sirio 80lb
- 8.5” x 11” Arancio Sirio 80lb
- Electronic Cutting Machine Wedding Shadow Box SVG file
- Liquid Adhesive
- 3D Foam Squares
- Shadow box frame (I used 8” x 8”)
- Optional Supplies:
- Flower die or similar SVG file
- Rhinestone or Pearl Embellishments
- Cricut Marker (I used Metallic Silver)
To get started, I purchased a Wedding Shadow Box SVG file. You can search Creative Fabrica for "wedding shadow box" and you will find hundreds of options! Choose the one you like best. First, I ungrouped the layers of the file and changed the colors of the file to more closely represent my wedding. For the first (bottom) layer, I selected a printed cardstock to resemble tie-dye in the background.
I bought an 8” x 8” shadow box frame and measured the inside of the shadow box with a ruler and resized the file to fit in the frame (for my project it was 7.55” square). I added text to the top layer of the file with my husband’s favorite Grateful Dead quote and our wedding year. I used the contour feature in design space on the layer marked “6” to eliminate some of the intricacies on the sleeves of the dress.
I cut each of the layers with my Cricut. I would strongly recommend cutting on a light setting with intricate die cuts and using multiple passes. Each machine and paper is different, so you may need to experiment.
To assemble, I began by gluing the hair onto layers 2 and 5 respectively.
Next, I glued layers 3 to 2, and so on. I attached layer 4 with a combination of liquid adhesive and foam squares (on the tuxedo jacket only). When I reached layer 7, I glued layer 7 onto layer 6 (wedding dress), before gluing to layer 5. I allowed these layers to be slightly offset in the area of the leaves. Similarly, I glued layer 8 to 9, before gluing to layer 7. All layers were liquid adhesive with the exception of layer 4 onto 5. As a reminder, I eliminated the second to top layer that came with the file. I liked the look better without it.
Finally, I attached the bottom and top layers using liquid adhesive.
I added some flower die cuts to my hair and dress and some embellishments using liquid adhesive, then added the layers to the frame.
Here is the finished frame! I love how it turned out.
Tips and Tricks:
- I preferred liquid adhesive for most of my layers, due to the intricacies in the file. I decided to pop up the tux to make the bride and groom appear to be at the same layer.
- Careful with the glue. Normally in a class I would say, “dot, dot, dot, not a lot.” I think it's important to make sure your glue gets around the outside edges and in some of the detail, and to make sure each layer is set before adding another layer, but easy does it.
Show us your wedding crafts! We'd love to see your creations! Show us your creations on Facebook or Instagram, and tag them with #cardstockwarehouse.
Happy Crafting! Traci Selig
IG: @tracicrafty
Blog:Traci Crafty