Blank Page Muse Blog: Fall Shadow Box~Pumpkin And/or Leaves

Saturday, October 25, 2025

Fall Shadow Box~Pumpkin And/or Leaves

Hello! Welcome back to the BPM blog as the DT wraps up this month's theme of Leaves and/or Pumpkin. BPM has a new digital printable download called Fall Harvest. Although the digital download set was created for junk journaling, you can easily use the images on the set on any kind of paper crafting e.g. a scrapbooking layout, a card, a tag, etc. I used one of the ephemera digital print out as the focal point of my shadow box.

If you are not familiar with digital downloads, these are files that are very easy to edit. I used Microsoft Word to crop and resize the winged gown that I used on my project. A printer is also necessary when using digital downloads. I used a toner printer to print my image. The kind of paper you print the image on depends on your preference. I used a light weight 60 lb. Hammermill paper. I could have printed it on an 80 lb. paper but I am trying to replete my 60 lb. paper supply. You can also die cut these print outs if you like. Best of all, these digital prints are very affordable.

I printed three of the same image. I had a different planned project than what I created but I like how this shadow box turned out.

I utilized a Cricut machine to create the mannequin stand on my project. The Cricut has a Snap Mat feature which was very helpful in checking if the cut design fits the paper especially if you are using paper scraps. I also used this feature to line up the mannequin cut with the dress print out. It took me 4 tries to resize and cut the mannequin. It was still bigger than the dress. As seen on the photo above, I was using the negative cut to check the sizing of the mannequin.

I trimmed off any excess from the mannequin to make it proportional to the dress. I aligned the dress to the mannequin incorrectly. Since the dress has a tube top, I should have aligned it to the chest, not the shoulders. I figured this out after fiddling with the mannequin a lot of times.

I fussy cut the rest of the dresses. I layered these dresses. I cut the wings off on one of the print outs. I cut the belt and skirt portion on one. I was going to keep one of the dresses as is since this will be the base layer of the dresses but I needed another belt so I trimmed the belt off from this piece.

I cut two pieces of mannequins. I cut one on a brown patterned paper and another one on a brown cardstock. I adhered the patterned piece on the cardstock piece. I trimmed off the excess from the cardstock piece using the patterned piece as a guide. Layering these cuts made the mannequin sturdy.

I adhered the dress on the front of the mannequin. Again, the placement of the dress on the above photo was too high.

After I fixed the dress placement on the mannequin, I trimmed off the excess showing off on the sides of the dress.

I adhered the wings to the back of the mannequin. I just lined this with the dress on the front. I adhered the base piece on the back of the mannequin. I did not apply glue on the ends of the wings and the skirt since I will zhush this later on. You will see on the photo above how the belt of the dress was cut off.

I adhered the belt and skirt cut on the front on top of the already adhered dress. I applied glue to the top portion of the skirt only.

I used a pick up tool to position the belt on the dress.

After the glue has dried, I gently zhushed the wings and skirt for some dimension.

I created a shadow box using a vintage patterned paper. The size of the shadow box is 5 1/4" x 6 1/2". I adhered the mannequin on the center of the shadow box using doubled up foam adhesive.

I zhushed the wings and skirt again before proceeding to the next step.

I created a paper curtain for the shadow box by creating pleats on a double sided patterned paper. I adhered this to the top of the shadow box. I had to press the folds down with my fingers while the glue dries.