Nativity Vinyl Glass Ball Ornaments

Seven nativity designs in delicate silhouette style

to cut from vinyl, attach to cut acetate or vinyl 

insert shape, roll into a tube, and place inside 

a 3" glass ball, add artificial snow

if desired, add bow or other decoration,

then feature on Christmas tree or other displays.

These scale-able vector graphic (svg) downloads

are available from SnapDragon Snippets,

SVG Attic, and Silhouette America's online store,

to work with digital cutting systems such as

the Silhouette Cameo (our favorite) as well as

Cricut Design Space and others.

Here is the set of designs:

ASSEMBLE: 1.Obtain glass ball ornaments.

Designs are sized 3.1" size which work well 

with the  "Celebrate It" balls from Michael's Crafts; 

also included are the slightly reduced designs 

for the 2.6" balls.

2. Cut the selected size design from vinyl.

Since these designs are very small, several may

be set up in one or more rows when 
preparing to cut. Allow space between the

designs for trimming. Trim each with a small

margin around the component cuts, like the area

of white backing shown on the "Holy Family" design

being modeled in the image below.

NOTE that a good choice is "outdoor vinyl" 
such as Oracal 651 which has a stronger adhesive 
to help keep tiny pieces attached to backing 
during the weeding procedures.

3. The tiny details of these designs will require careful

and slow weeding to remove all excess around

and within the design components. 

Refer to the thumbnails

which appear with the downloads, 

or to the image above to preserve only the design.

4. Cut the ball insert shape from clear acetate.

5. Cut a piece of transfer "tape" paper,

remove backing, and place over the weeded

vinyl design.

6. Use a "scraper" to "burnish" the transfer paper

over the vinyl pieces to ensure they will be picked

up correctly and completely.

7. Carefully peel away the vinyl carrier sheet

leaving ALL vinyl pieces attached to the

transfer paper.

8. Position the vinyl on the front of the 

clear ball shape.

One way to do this is (without a lot of inadvertent sticking
of transfer tape) to place the clear ball shape

ON TOP of the carrier with vinyl and 
adjust the vinyl design compared to the ball shape

up/down and side-to-side.

Once desired position is determined, trim away the 

transfer paper even with the clear ball shape.

Next, move the clear shape to be in its final position

 BEHIND the vinyl/transfer paper, aligning the lower

edges of both, and visually adjusting before

allowing the transfer paper to "stick" in final position.

9. Burnish with scraper tool to attach the vinyl

shapes to the front of the clear ball shape.

10. Carefully peel away transfer paper,

making sure that each tiny detail of vinyl

remains in position attached to the acetate.

Here is the completed acetate shape.

11. Remove the top cap and wire loop of glass ball.

12. Carefully roll the completed design side-to-side

with vinyl on the inside . . .

. . . then insert the roll through the ball stem.

When the acetate unrolls, make sure that it

self-adjusts to be in the center of the ball

with the "stem" extension in the ball's neck.

Straighten, if necessary, with tweezers.

13. Replace cap and wire loop.

14. If desired, add some fake snow flakes

into the bottom of the ball prior to

re-attaching the cap and loop.

Embellish with ribbon at stem as desired.