Easy Layered Sea Animal Mandalas: Dolphin, Turtle, and Jellyfish!

Instructions

STEP 1: GET MY FREE LAYERED SEA ANIMALS SVGS FILES

First, download my free Layered Sea Animals SVG/DXF/PDF, Design #316, from my free resource library. There are three different designs – a Jelly, a Dolphin and a Turtle. These pieces of art fit in a 12” x 12” shadow box and are perfect for hanging on your favorite wall!

You can cut these mandalas by hand with the printable PDF, or cut them on a cutting machine with the SVG cut files. Let me show you how to cut these on a Cricut cutting machine.

First, upload the SVG cut file to your design software. If you're not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video SVGs Made Simple training series I made.

If you're on an iPhone or iPad, here's how to download and upload SVG files to the Cricut Design Space app.

This is what the layered sea animal SVG cut files look like in Design Space when you import them to Cricut Design Space. Unless you want to resize them, everything is ready to cut!

TIP: To change the size, click on the design on the canvas and then click and drag the arrow on the bottom right side until everything is the size you want. You can even cut these files on a Joy! You will need to resize them to fit on a Cricut Joy mat – the maximum width for cutting on a Joy mat is 4.25”. You may want to discard the top layers of the Jelly and Turtle because they will be too detailed and difficult to use once they are scaled down to cut on your Joy.

STEP 2: CUT THE LAYERED SEA ANIMALS SVGS

To make the layered Jellyfish mandala, these are the layers I cut and the materials I used.

Click "Make It" and you will be prompted to select your material settings and place your material on your cutting mat. I used Cricut Foil Kraft Board - Holographic in Neon Green on a Green Standard Grip Mat for Layer One (the top layer). 

For the material settings, I selected Foil Kraft Board - Holographic with "More" pressure. Make sure the Fine Point Blade is loaded in Clamp B, then load your mat into your machine and press the Go button.

When Layer 1 is done cutting, check to make sure the Kraft Board is cut all the way through BEFORE unloading the mat. If it needs to be cut again, simply press the Go button and your machine will recut it. If it cut properly the first time, press the Unload button on your machine.

TIP: If you have any issues cutting, check out my Cutting Problems Guide. It contains all the tips I use to get clean cuts consistently.

Carefully remove the layer from the mat. (Take a look at this tip if you're having issues with your cardstock curling or ripping.)

TIP: As you cut your layers, each design will leave behind cut-out pieces on your mat. I carefully peeled them off using my fingers and also used my Cricut XL Scraper tool to easily pry those pieces off.

After your first mat is done, you will be prompted to load the second mat. For Layer 2, I adhered a sheet of Cricut True Brushed Paper in Navy Blue on a Green Standard Grip Mat. In Material Settings, I selected True Brushed Paper and set the Pressure to Default. Your Fine-Point Blade should already be loaded so load your mat and press Go.

Check your cut piece before unloading, and recut it if necessary. Unload the mat and remove your pieces like you did before. 

Now, prepare your mat with the material you want to use for Layer 3. I placed a sheet of Shimmer Cardstock in Yellow on my Green Standard Grip mat and loaded it into my machine. In Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure. 

When it was done cutting, I removed the layer from the mat and set up the mat for Layer 4. I used Cricut Glitter Cardstock for this layer and selected Glitter Cardstock as the Base Material. I set the Pressure to Default, loaded the mat and pressed Go to cut.

When prompted to load materials and tools for Layer 5, I adhered a piece of 80# Textured Cardstock in Light Teal on Green Standard Grip cutting mat. In Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure. 

Once it was done cutting and I unloaded the mat, I placed a sheet of Glitter Cardstock in Silver on a Green Standard Grip Mat for Layer 6 (the bottom layer). I used Cricut Glitter Cardstock for this layer and selected Glitter Cardstock as the Base Material. I set the Pressure to Default, loaded the mat and pressed Go to cut.

TIP: Each SVG cut file includes the sea animals layers PLUS some extra decorative pieces. The Turtle file includes two small turtles that I cut on glitter cardstock and some bubbles, which I cut on frosted vinyl and used to decorate the glass of the frame. The Dolphin file includes splash designs, which I cut on frosted vinyl and adhered to the frame glass. The Jelly file includes four small jellies – I cut two with glitter cardstock and two with frosted vinyl.

Now that I’m done cutting, these are all the Jellyfish pieces I have.

To make the other layered sea animal mandalas, I used similar materials. Here are the materials and settings I used to cut the Dolphin layers.

Layer 1 (top piece): Shimmer Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure.

Layer 2: Glitter Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Glitter Cardstock with Default Pressure.

Layer 3: 80# Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure.

Layer 4: Glitter Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Glitter Cardstock with Default Pressure.

Layer 5: 80# Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure.

Here are the Dolphin pieces after they are cut.

And these are the Turtle layers and material settings.

Layer 1 (top piece): Shimmer Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure.

Layer 2: Glitter Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Glitter Cardstock with Default Pressure.

Layer 3: Shimmer Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure.

Layer 4: Glitter Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Glitter Cardstock with Default Pressure.

Layer 5: 80# Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Medium Cardstock - 80 lb (216gsm) with Default Pressure.

Layer 6: Glitter Cardstock -- in Material Settings I selected Glitter Cardstock with Default Pressure.

And these are the Turtle pieces after they are cut.

These are all the Layered Sea Animal pieces you’ll have when you’re done cutting.

STEP 3: ASSEMBLE THE LAYERED SEA ANIMALS

I'm going to show you how to assemble the Jelly -- the process is the same for all the designs.

Once you have your pieces cut, you'll want to apply double-sided foam adhesive to the backside of all the layers. I cut down squares of foam adhesive with scissors to fit as needed.

This is how I applied the adhesive foam to Layer 1 (the top layer) of the Jelly.

Center and place your top layer on Layer 2.

TIP: As you place the mandala layers on one another, lay them down lightly so you can adjust your placement if needed, then press to the underlying layer.

Add adhesive foam to the back of Layer 2.

Align and place Layer 2 on top of Layer 3.

Add adhesive foam to the back of Layer 3.

Place Layer 3 on top of Layer 4.

Continue placing the mandala layers one on top of the other. Refer to the file in Cricut Design Space for placement. Below you'll see how I placed the foam adhesive on Layer 4.

Place Layer 4 on top of Layer 5.

And here is Layer 5 with the adhesive on the back.

Place Layer 5 on top Layer 6 (the bottom layer) to complete the design.

Now our Layered Jelly is complete! Next, let’s put it in the frame and add some embellishments.

STEP 4: ASSEMBLING THE SHADOW BOXES

Once the Jelly is assembled, let’s give it a home!

First, select a piece of cardstock from the water-themed H2O kit as your background.

Next, take the backer board of the frame off.

Place the shadow box's backer board over your cardstock and trace a line where you’d like to trim the paper.

With a trimmer or scissors, cut the cardstock along your traced line.

Now, let’s attach our Jellyfish mandala to the background. Place adhesive on the back of your layered Jelly.

Center the Jelly on the background and gently press down.

Put adhesive on the back of your small decorative cardstock Jellies and place them down on the background like this:

Decorate the background with the adhesive jewels. I added a couple right on my layered Jelly, too.

We’re almost done! Assemble the frame and close the tabs on the back.

To put our frosted vinyl Jellies on the shadow box glass, we’ll first need to weed them, which means to remove all the extra bits that you don’t want to transfer to your frame. You might be able to do this with your fingernail, but you might want to use a weeding tool (I do).

After the vinyl is weeded, you need a piece of transfer tape to transfer your design to the frame. Cut out a piece of transfer tape that is slightly bigger than your design. Take the backing off of the transfer tape and place it sticky side down on the Jelly vinyl decal. Use a scraper tool to burnish the tape onto the vinyl. To do this, start at the center and move outwards so that you don’t get creases and bubbles in your transfer tape. This is my vinyl with the transfer tape applied.

Clean the surface of the glass with isopropyl alcohol. This will remove any oil or dirt and get the surface as clean as possible -- and it will make a difference in making sure the vinyl decal sticks and stays stuck. We want our decals to stick as well as possible, right? It’s no fun putting something on and having it come right off. 

Apply the vinyl to the glass and smooth it down. You may want to use a scraper to help remove any bubbles.

Carefully remove the transfer tape, making sure the Jelly decal remains stuck on the glass.

Repeat this process to attach the second vinyl Jelly.

Now, add a few more jewels to the glass and hang your frame on a wall!

STEP 5: SHOW IT OFF

This is what my framed Jelly looks like when it's finished!

And this is what all my layered animals look like before they are framed.

And here is a close-up picture of the dolphin layers:

This is what all my Layered Sea Animals frames look like after they are put together!