Layered Christmas Ornament made from Cardstock and LED Lights - Free SVG Cut File to Cut on a Cricut

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Learn how to make light-up Paper Christmas Ornaments with my step-by-step instructions for these 3D Festive Layered Designs!

I love putting ornaments on my tree! I especially love the ones I’ve made over the years, like the Paper Orb and the Glitter Ball Ornaments. So let’s make another using the easiest of all materials to cut: cardstock! This gorgeous multi-layered paper Christmas ornament will add some sparkle to your holiday decor. You can keep this for yourself or give it as a gift. So for Day 3 of The Great Maker 25-Day Gift-Away Challenge, I am showing you how to make Light-Up Layered Paper Christmas Ornaments! 

See exactly how to make Light-Up Layered Paper Christmas Ornaments in my tutorial video (or keep scrolling if you prefer a printable step-by-step photo tutorial):

Get the free SVG cut file for this project

What is The Great Maker 25-Day Gift-Away? This is an annual tradition here at JenniferMaker! Every day for the first 25 days of December, we gift you with a brand new project, design, tutorial, and video for something YOU asked us to make. On top of that, we host a giveaway with 25+ prizes. Some of the amazing prizes are Cricut cutting machines, sewing machines, gift cards to get materials for projects, and beautiful print editions of our popular Cricut Coach Playbook. You can even earn bonus entries for sharing photos of the daily projects! Click here to learn more about The Great Maker 25-Day Gift-Away!

This year the big trend in papercrafting has been layered designs. So I’m super excited to teach you how to make this gorgeous multi-layered paper Christmas ornament that will add some sparkle to your holiday tree and home decor. The ornament is shaped like a snow globe and it shows Santa and a reindeer flying over a snowy scene … see how cute this is? The ornament also makes a great gift, but I won’t judge if you just keep it for yourself!

To make these layered paper ornaments, you’ll need a variety of 8.5″ x 11″ 65 lb. cardstock in whatever colors you want — I used yellow, gray, blue ombre, white diamond glitter, and a metallic silver foil. The links to the exact papers I used are listed later in this tutorial.

You also want some adhesive foam dots — those are the secret to getting the cool dimensional look with your layers. See how the layers have slight shadows behind them in the photo below — that’s thanks to the foam dots!

3D layered ornament for Christmas - Santa's Sleigh

And if you’d like your ornament to light up as mine does, you just need a strand of LED fairy lights that are battery operated. Be sure to get the MICRO size so they fit in your ornament and not bulk it up. I also recommend you get LED lights with warm white color, as I have here, as I think it really makes the ornament magical.

And, of course, you’ll want some ribbon or string to hold up your ornament once it is all done! I’m using a one quarter inch wide double-sided red satin here.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-HANGING-ON-TREE

I cut these ornaments on my Cricut cutting machine using a green StandardGrip cutting mat and my fine point blade. Other useful tools include a pair of scissors and a weeding tool for getting the intricate bits of the paper out of your cut design.

Here is this Santa ornament as cut and assembled by Jen, a “Communications Hero” on my team!

Layered Christmas Ornament on a Christmas Tree

Ready to make this fun ornament? Let me show you where to get my free ornament design and then how to assemble your awesome layered, light-up Christmas ornament! This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy.

Materials to Make Paper Christmas Ornaments

View my Amazon shopping list with the exact items we used to make this project!

How to Make Paper Christmas Ornaments

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-HANGING-ON-TREE

Paper Christmas Ornaments - A 3D Layered Design

Yield: 1 ornament
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

This gorgeous multi-layered paper Christmas ornament will add some sparkle to your holiday decor.

Instructions

STEP 1: GET MY FREE SVG DESIGN FILE FOR THE ORNAMENT

Get the free paper Christmas Ornaments design from my free resource library (get the password to the library in the form at the bottom of this post).

Here is what the 3D layered paper Christmas ornament SVG cut file will look like when you upload it to Cricut Design Space.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-DESIGN-SPACE

If you're not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video 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.

And here's a look at what you need to make it:

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-SUPPLIES

STEP 2: CUT OUT YOUR DESIGN

Yes, this is super easy! The design will be spread out onto 5 different mats according to color. You can leave it just like this and hit CONTINUE.

When selecting materials, select foil poster board for the first mat and either medium cardstock or glitter cardstock for the remaining mats, depending on the order.

(If you have any issues cutting, check out my Cutting Problems Guide because it tells you all the tips I use to get clean cuts consistently.)

STEP 3: ASSEMBLE YOUR PAPER CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Remove your materials from the mat by flipping the mat over and pulling the mat away from the material, this way it doesn't curl up.

Next, use the foam dots to attach the yellow cardstock to the back piece of the ornament.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-SECURE-FIRST-LAYER.JPG

Tape the battery pack for the fairy lights to the back of the ornament. 3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-TAPE-BATTERY-PACK

Bend the wire around the outside so the lights are on the front side of the yellow cardstock. Spread the fairy lights out a little but keep them toward the top and use scotch tape to secure them in place. 3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-TAPE-FAIRY-LIGHTS.JPG

Continue assembling your paper christmas ornament by using foam dots to adhere each layer on top of one another as it appears in the design.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-ADD-STAR-LAYER3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-LINE-UP-STAR-LAYER3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-TREE-LAYER3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-FRONT-LAYER

When all the layers are in place use the ribbon to tie a pretty ribbon at the top.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-ADD-BOWUse another piece of ribbon to make a loop to hang the ornament.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-LOOP-PULL-THROUGH

STEP 4: SHOW IT OFF

Now flip the switch to turn on the fairy lights and enjoy your beautiful new 3D ornament.

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-CLICK-ON

I just love how the stars light up!

3D-LAYERED-SANTA-SLEIGH-STARRY-NIGHT-ORNAMENT-JENNIFERMAKER-LIT-UP

Notes

Special thanks to the JenniferMaker Design Fairy Team, specifically Design Fairy Debbie, for helping me design and assemble this beautiful Paper Christmas Ornament.

Answers to Your Questions About Making Paper Christmas Ornaments

Q: Can you use colored paper instead of cardstock?
For this project you really need to use at least 65 lb. cardstock as it is thicker and will create a more rigid ornament.

Q: What length fairy lights do you need?
We use a 7.2 foot length of lights, but it’s the number of lights that matter, not the length! You want a small strand, with about 20 lights. And make sure the fairy lights are the micro light kind! Regular fairy lights, although they are small, are still too large for this ornament!

Get my free SVG files to make this Paper Christmas Ornaments

I’d love to see your layered paper Christmas ornaments! I know you’ll come up with some great color combinations, too! Please share a photo in our Facebook group or tag me on social media with #jennifermaker.

See all of the projects, tutorials, and free designs in The Great Maker 25-Day Gift-Away Challenge!

Love,

JenniferMaker.com

Want to remember this? Save this Paper Christmas Ornaments tutorial to your favorite Pinterest Board!

Layered Christmas Ornament made from Cardstock and LED Lights - Free SVG Cut File to Cut on a Cricut

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14 Comments

  1. I keep clicking on my free SVG for the Day 3 layered ornament but I have no idea where it is. How do I find it. I watched the video and would like to make it I have repeated all the steps to get to asking for it but where is it

  2. Can’t wait to make this ornament! My grandson was watching the tutorial with me and asked me to make him one, too. You bet I will! Thanks Jennifer!!

  3. I see you do a printable version of your Book step by step l did ask before l brought the online version if you did this and you said no😢 how much is the printable one please l live in the uk

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