Tree Town • New for 2022

I purchased my Silhouette to design and make Ledge Village. From that beginning grew 3dcuts.com. I have designed many types of files since then but I keep circling back to buildings. Ledge Village was followed by Tea Light Village. Both have grown in both size and complexity over the years. My thinking is that they have become so extensive that the magnitude frightens away new users. I designed Tree Town as a smaller simplier village to encourage less experienced users to experiment with building 3d projects.

I also addressed a second challenge with the earlier towns and that was display. I designed the display system right into the Tree Town project. In fact that was the basis of this design. I started with the tree shelf unit and designed the village to fit in it.

• The cutting file for the entire project is here.

• The tutorial for assembly is here.

The finished projects is about 12.5” tall. The download includes the files in SVG, PDF, PNG, and DXF file formats. All pieces fit on 8.5 x 11” card stock. I used the Neenah card stock for the white and Recollections for all the colors.

I didn’t illuminate Tree Town like Tea Light Village because that added a level of complexity. Instead I designed it so that is self illuminates if you display it in front of a window. The sunshine makes the windows glow!Be sure to share your finished Tree Town in the Facebook group pages or by sending photos to me at marji@3dcuts.com. I will include unique and creative ideas in the tutorial.

Be sure to share your finished Tree Town in the Facebook group pages or by sending photos to me at marji@3dcuts.com. I will include unique and creative ideas in the tutorial.

 I have been working with 12" embroidery hoops in my latest group of designs. I especially like the circular format and the structure that the hoops gives to a project that is made mostly of card stock cut on my Silhouette.  Here is the series. You can see I am moving through the seasons with more to come!

Haunted House Hoop:

Deer Family Hoop

Give Thanks Hoop

Christmas Cottage Hoop

You can download the cutting files for all of these here.

The assembly tutorials with videos are located here.

 It has been a different year for me but I am pleased to report that I am back designing at 3dcuts.com after taking an unplanned medical "vacation". And since it is September that means it is time for an update to Tea Light Village.  There are two new buildings to add to the collection this year. Can you see them in the village photo?

The are right there in the lower right corner. I have added a Windmill and Well House and The Academy. I thought the village needed another tall structure to balance out the lighthouse from 2020 hence the windmill. The Academy is loosely based on the Old Center School in Coventry, CT. I attended that wooden 4 room school house for the first grade decades ago.

Both are available at the 3dcuts.com online store. 

Download the cutting file here: https://3dcuts.com/tea-light-village/2021-additions

Download the tutorials here: https://3dcuts.com/tutorial-group-tea-light-village

Happy crafting all! Be sure to share photos of your tea light villages with me at marji@3dcuts.com and on the facebook and instagram crafting groups.

 That's A Lot of Candles!!

Need an extra special birthday card?

Years ago I designed the much used WOW birthday card file. I designed it for a friend and have been so touched by how many people have taken that file, modified it, and given it to important people in their lives. It was a card designed to say "I truly care". So many have shared warm and happy stories about their giving it to those people who have too many candles to fit on a regular cake. But we needed a new design! We can't keep using that same one. My husband recently celebrated his birthday and we are of the age of too many candles, so I designed this card for him.

 

This card is 36" long and 9" tall. It can be modified to hold unto 120 candles! The cake topper can be customized as well.  The entire card folds flat and can fit into a standard USPS Priority mail box for easy sending. I also included a gift box cutting file in the download.

• Download the cutting file here for $3.59
• View the online tutorial here (yes, there is a video).

You should check out all the modifications of the WOW card that I have added to the end of the tutorial here. It might give you some creative ideas on ways to customize this card as well. After you have made it and given it away be sure to share your photos and story in the facebook group posts or email it to me marji@3dcuts.com.

 

Expanding Ledge Village

I started designing Ledge Village back in 2013 when I created my first little set for the ledge in my laundry room. Over the years I have added many, many more buildings and the village has grown. This year I have revisited Ledge Village because of an idea presented on Pinterest by Cheryl Leclaric. She put one of my Ledge houses into a shadow box and I was impressed.  So I went to work with a new house and lamppost. The first house I designed was Tudor Manor and it ended up being too large for the space. I then designed the taller, narrower Porch House to use in a Christmas Eve Shadow Box.

This shadow box uses a standard (12 x12 exterior) shadow box I purchased at Amazon.  I also got LED fairy lights which I added to it because it just looks beautiful when you light it up!

But I still had Tudor Manor which I hadn't used.  So I needed to do more.  I went on to update the Tower House and thought about a new display.  I knew it would look marvelous on a fireplace mantle but I like many don't have one.  And then remembered the crown molding photo ledges I use to display photos in the guest room.  And I started building a new little village.....

This collection includes Tudor Manor, Tower House v2, Chapel, Store 2 and Dormer House all from the various Ledge Village Collections I have released over the years. Here is a detail shot of Tudor Manor. It includes the half-timber detailing of the architectural style.

And The new Tower House v2 has improved engineering.

But the thing that makes the village charming is the new illuminated lamp posts.

I am now going to have to find a new photo ledge solution for the guest room because I love this new Ledge Village so much it is going to be displayed in my office!

Ledge Village cutting files available here from 3dcuts.com.

Ledge Village assembly tutorials are here.

The original Ledge Village buildings were not designed to have LED lights installed. I have added a tutorial on how to add lights to these original files here.

Happy crafting everyone!!

Marji

©2020

 How long have you been following Ashbee Design? Since 2011 when I started? If it has been a lot of years you will know that each year I design and make my own Christmas Card. Even during these years of declining Christmas Card sending I still do it. And I often share the ideas here- generally not until the following year. I have abandoned that trend. If you are on my Christmas Card list and don't want a spoiler - stop reading here.

Otherwise....

2020 will be another zig zag card following on the two previous years. I have just uploaded to my website the Zig Zag Presents Christmas Card.

It is a great crafting design because it is so customizable. All the wrapping papers are from my stash of craft supplies. What is in your stash? If you want to try using some of it up on this design download the cutting file here for $2.99. The easy-to-follow assembly tutorial is online here.

Have you realized yet that this file can also be used as a birthday card? Just use different papers!

And the download comes with a template for making the perfect envelope. It has been designed so that you can also use a standard 6 x 9" booklet envelope. If you are making a lot of cards to send you might prefer that option.

Be sure to share photos of your versions of this design with me at marji@3dcuts.com on in the online facebook crafting groups.

Happy crafting,

Marji

Tea Light Village 2020 - New Buildings!

 I started Tea Light Village in 2013 and I have added to it every year. Making 3d buildings was one of the initial reasons I purchased my Silhouette and it hasn't disappointed.  For 2020 I visited the ocean. The two new additions are a classic  lighthouse with keeper's cottage and a lobster shack with little picnic tables.

It is good to have another taller structure for the village to add variety. The village has gotten so long that it is hard to photograph. My sister lent me her mantle and I made this short video.

You'll notice that it is a thinner display. I found that my standard Hexagon bases were too wide for a narrow mantle so I designed a new series that take one corner of creating and irregular pentagon. It meshes well with the pentagon base and gives you more display options. Here is the layout I used. It even includes a little gap for the covered bridge to span.

If you are interested in making the village or expanding your current one the files for the buildings and the bases are available here.

All the assembly tutorials are here. There are links to the paper and lights I used in the assembly tutorial.

Happy crafting everyone!

Marji

Easy Rider Shadow Box Series

David and I are loving our e-bikes and spend hours on beautiful days exploring the hilly and forested terrain of Connecticut. I have been thinking about shadow boxes that feature the experience of riding but not just e-bikes - any type of bike and from that idea grew my new Easy Rider Shadow box series.

 

My first design was created from tracing photographs of David and myself on our e-bikes. We took the photos and I imported them into Illustrator. I traced the outlines carefully and used that tracing to create the silhouettes. Even though they lack detail they clearly look like us.

I then continued with this concept to make a file that allowed the crafter to insert any of 4 different riders into the scene.  The download comes with a male cyclist, a female cyclist, a single guy on a motorcycle and a couple on a motorcycle all cruising through the mountains. 

The download includes all four riders and and the individual layer 1 needed for each. You can easily swap in the rider you want to make. 

The download file is here. It is $4.59 for all four files together.

The online tutorial is here complete with a video showing the easy assembly process.

Valentines 2020

I design something each year for Valentines Day and I am especially proud of this year’s designs.  These are all available at my sister site 3dcuts.com. I started working with the concept of nesting hearts. As I worked I discovered hearts don’t nest well. You lose the shape quickly so I instead switched to proportional shrinks. I like what was happening and developed these three files for Valentine crafters to use.

First I design the wall decor piece. I especially love the elegance of the all white design although I have made it in all red. Someone just posted a picture on facebook of their interpretation alternating red and white. How about silver? It was designed to fit in a standard 8 x 8” shadow box although be careful. My 8 x 8” shadow box really measure 9 x 9”. Measure the inside of your shadow box before cutting. It is easy to adjust this file to match whatever square option you have.

Save the heart cutouts from the wall decor project. With those you will set to move right into the Stacked Hearts Valentine Card v1 (red). I just adhered the heart cutouts into stacks and applied them to the front of a card. The download includes a “Be My Valentine” cut out sentiment for the inside and a custom envelope cutting file as well.

For the 2nd card - Stacked Heart Valentine card v2 (white) I cut the files for the wall decor piece in a smaller scale to fit on a 5 x 5 card. This download also includes the sentiment and the envelope.

All three files are available as a download from the store and all have online tutorials including videos.

• Get the cutting files here for $2.99 for all three projects.
• View the tutorial for the wall decor here.
• View the tutorial for Stacked Valentine Card v1 red here.
• View the tutorial for Stacked Valentine Card v2 white  here.

Christmas 2019 • Time to Craft

Yes, we crafter start early. Although Christmas is months away, the holiday crafting season is here.  I just introduced 2 new designs for paper crafters to create using their cutting machines. Both are zig-zag cards based on the same construction design as my Zig Zag Village from 2018

The first is a stunningly elegant Nativity. This is the quickest Zig-Zag card for construction yet.

• Download the cutting file here.
• View the online tutorial here.

There is also a Gingerbread version for 2019

• Download the cutting file here.
• View the online tutorial here.

Owls!

Using the owl as a subject matter in my shadow boxes has been on the to-do list for a while now. Once I finished my Valentine's crafting it moved to the top of the lists.  Here is a matching set of four owl shadow boxes.

Featured are four owls that are native to my home state of Connecticut. From top to bottom are the Great Horned Owl, Screech Owl, Barn Owl and Barred Owl. Each is perched in it's own varied tree and silhouetted against a full moon.

These are simple to assemble - just a three-layered shadow box. And I have created individual assembly video tutorials for each.  When complete each shadow box is about 6.5" square. Here are the links to the files and the tutorials.

• http://3dcuts.com/screech-owl-tutorial
• http://3dcuts.com/barred-owl-tutorial
• http://3dcuts.com/barn-owl-tutorial
• http://3dcuts.com/great-horned-owl-tutorial
• 
  
• http://3dcuts.com/shadow-boxes-nature-themes/screech-owl
• http://3dcuts.com/shadow-boxes-nature-themes/barred-owl
• http://3dcuts.com/shadow-boxes-nature-themes/barn-owl
• http://3dcuts.com/shadow-boxes-nature-themes/great-horned-owl
• http://3dcuts.com/shadow-boxes-nature-themes/owl-shadow-boxes-all-4

Going Square!

Crafters requested and I listened. A number of you have requested that I offer some of my Star Shadow Boxes in a square format.  People want to put them in wooden frames behind glass in order to make a lasting keepsake.  I spent the past two weeks re-desgingin the Heart Tree Shadow Box because Valentine's Day is approaching and it would make a great gift for a significant other.

The shadow box is 11" square and designed to fit into the standard one available from Amazon.com. I have also incorporated strings lights that come with a remote control also from Amazon. Links to the supplies are included in the tutorial.

I also added three sets of couples to this download. It comes with a male/female couple or  male/male or female/female groupings. You choose the one that matches the couple yo are featuring. And as with the original star shadow box, the letters carved into the tree are customizable.

Time for a new project?  

• Cutting files here: http://3dcuts.com/illuminated-shadow-boxes/heart-tree-square
• Video tutorial here - http://3dcuts.com/heart-tree-square-shadow-box-tutorial

Happy crafting,

Marji
©2019 3dcuts.com

Valentine Garden - a new DIY Valentine design

Valentine's Day is in February which smack dab in the coldest, snowiest part of winter here in New England. I decided to incorporate a little springtime cheer with my Valentine design this year to helps us weather through until April.

My Valentine card uses the garden theme to brighten the dreary winter days. This design is based on the same construction concept as Zig Zag Village although a whole lot quicker to assemble because it doesn't have the fiddly details. And yes, it does fold flat for storage or mailing. It fits into a regular 6 x 9" booklet envelope.
Available in svg, pdf, png, and dxf formats here:http://3dcuts.com/heart-valentine-projects/valentine-garden

Assembly tutorial is here: http://3dcuts.com/valentine-garden-tutorial

And here is a quick link to the tutorial:

Happy crafting everyone!

Marji

3dcuts.com

Beautiful Centerpiece

Yesterday I received an email from Miles Douglas. Miles send a long a photo of his table decor for Christmas Eve 2018. It made me very happy.

Using two of my cutting files, adjusting and combining, he made this beautiful tables cape. It includes the Moose in Fir Trees file available here plus the Covered Bridge from Tea Light Village available here. He increased the size of the Covered Bridge file before cutting to match the Moose and Fir Tree file combined it all with trendy Buffalo Plaid. Great attention to detail and a beautiful table setting.

Christmas Crafting - 2018

Every Christmas I try and design two things in paper- a Christmas card and a few ornaments for our tree. Both are done for 2018.

The card is a contemporary pop-up design featuring a mixture of fonts, colors and patterns. It fits into a standard 6" x9" booklet envelope. The cutting file is here. The assembly tutorial including video is here. I hope to design a Happy Birthday version soon.

For ornaments this year I continued working with the cube shadow box theme that I first introduced with a valentine. I designed three for this series including a star, nativity and snowflake. I generally avoid bling but I really liked the touch of glitter on these. I did make an incredible mess in the craft room with the stuff though. I still have sparkles on my clothes.

The cutting files for these are available here. Online assembly tutorial with video is here.

Happy holiday crafting everyone!!!!

2018 Additions to Tea Light Village.

I have been creating buildings for Tea Light Village since 2014, and each year I seem to design 2 more. 2018 is no exception. I have just added a Barber Shop with iconic pole and a Covered Bridge with a horse-drawn sleigh to the store at 3dcuts.com.

Both are great additions to this charming village.

The covered bridge reflects some of the design elements you will find a various bridges around new England. The sleigh comes with driver and a tiny tree for the back.

The barber shop file includes a bench, picket fence, and a pine tree.

Download links:

• 2018 Additions: If already have Tea Light Village buildings up through 20717 then you can add the 2 new files for $2.59 here.
• 2018 Complete: If you don't have any of the village you can get all 16 buildings in one download for $12.59 here.
• See all the available download options here.
• Barber Shop assembly tutorial is here.
• Covered Bridge and Sleigh assembly tutorial is here.

Which will you make first?

Happy crafting everyone.

Marji

3dcuts.com

©2018 Marji Roy