For the last week of the first semester, my school hosted a holiday door decorating contest. Being a fan, I knew I wanted an *Elf* inspired door and wanted it to say, “I love to read. Reading’s my favorite.” Here’s how I put together my display…
Digital Design
I started on Google images and found a decal with basic outlines of Buddy. I uploaded the image to Design Space and used the features to upload each color as a separate layer. I then searched the average dimensions of a door and created a light blue box this size.

I resized my elf layers to about 4 feet tall, and then uploaded some snowflake SVG files. Since my Elf was going to be larger than my 12” x 12” mat, I used a 11.5” x 11.5” square to slice the design apart.

I then went to DaFont.com and searched Christmas fonts. I ended up liking and using a font titled Brother by Belina Studio. After I typed out and resized my text and then separated the letters into their own layers so that I could save paper. I was careful to pay attention to the group size when selecting multiple letters to offset at once. I used the Offset feature and set the basic cut to white. This layer served as a background for securing the red letters. I created a background of the white offset by using the feature again but this time made the layer blue.

I’ve become a huge fan of layered cardstock letters (especially three layers). These layers look amazing with foam dots used to secure them. It creates a nice 3D effect.

I cut out the layers using 12” x 12” cardstock I purchased from Michaels.

Here is the Design Space link to my project.

Assembling the Pieces

After each color was cut, I taped the individual pieces together. Since I wanted a cohesive look, I went to our school’s media center and used the bulletin board paper in light blue, green, yellow and white. I used a matte mod podge glue and foam brush to apply a generous layer on the backside of the green and yellow cardstock and then carefully pressed the layers of paper together, paying attention to smoothing and sealing the edges. I applied another layer on top of the cardstock along the edges. (Note: The layers will bubble and wrinkle as they dry. It is very stressful, but for the most part it will flatten the more it dries.)

After the mod podge dried, I carefully cut the bulletin paper along the cardstock borders. I then flipped each layer over and mod podged the front sides to create a matte laminated look and give the layer more structure. After these layers dried, I continued to mod podge to secure the layers together.

For the white collar and sleeve pieces, I glued the cardstock to white felt and cut them out like I did the other layers. The shoes, belt, and hand pieces were not double layered with bulletin paper. I used a metallic cardstock I had left over from a previous project to make the belt buckle look more realistic.

Putting the Pieces on the Door

Since it’s been a long time since I decorated a door, I didn’t really have a detailed plan going into it. I started with the light blue bulletin board paper and some packing tape. I secured the top right corner first and then the top left corner. I cut off the excess at the bottom of the door and then went back to the top, securing the sides after pulling the paper tightly.

Then, I held up Buddy to figure out where the head hole needed to be cut. I didn’t realize the door handle was going to require him to be so far off the ground, but I knew I could compensate with the white paper and make a snowy hill layer.

I cut a straight line in the middle of the window and then cut from the top and bottom of the line horizontally to the window frame. I folded the paper inward and then cut off a little less than the excess. I folded the paper in to make a smooth seam and then taped the paper to the inside of the window frame. I was glad to have Buddy’s collar and hat; they hid my less than smooth cuts at the top and bottom of the hole.

I used a hot glue gun to secure Buddy to the paper, working from his cap to his waist. Before I secured the legs and shoes, I cut the white paper and secured that to the door with packing tape like I had done with the blue paper. Then, I glued his legs and shoes down.

I laid out the letters on the ground in a way that worked with the change in space since Buddy needed to be higher off the ground. I glued the tops of each letter and placed them first. Then, I went back and secured the bottoms.

Lastly, I hot glued the snowflakes by placing the larger ones first. The last small snowflake didn’t seem to fit nicely anywhere, so I ended up cutting it in half and placing it on the edges.

Adding Narwhal

I finished the elf on Thursday and didn’t need to have the door display up until the following Wednesday, so I figured I had time to add narwhal to the display. Since the space on the door was already accounted for, I decided he would be next to the door. I also wanted to change the phrase, “Bye, Buddy. I hope you find your dad,” to “Bye, guys. I hope you have a great break!” I repeated the same process that I used to create the elf. I uploaded an image and used the features to upload each color as a separate layer into Cricut Design Space. I then used the same font, but this time I added a speech bubble to have somewhere consistent to place the letters. Since narwhal has a lot of blue in his design, I also decided to use a green background for the second offset layer, so the letters would go from red to white to green. I thought this would tie in the green from the elf and make the whole display look more cohesive.

Here is the Design Space link for the Narwhal pieces.