Santa Sleigh Layered Design ❄️ CCC 2026 Day 03

Make a magical cardstock Christmas scene featuring Santa flying through the night sky in his sleigh.

This layered cardstock design shows Santa and his reindeer soaring through the clouds, surrounded by twinkling stars and a crescent moon.

There aren’t too many layers in this design, so it’s a lovely quick project to put together.

A mixture of glue and foam squares adds depth between the layers, with silver glitter cardstock bringing a little extra Christmas sparkle to the stars and other details.

I’ve made mine in different shades of blue for a wintry night-time feel, but you could have lots of fun experimenting with the colours.

I think it would look beautiful with a deep pink or purple sleigh and different shades of candy floss pink for the sky!

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to prepare the SVG in Cricut Design Space, cut all the pieces and layer everything together to create the finished 3D effect.

Santa sleigh supply list

Here is a list of the materials used to make this project.

Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.

Cricut machine
Light blue Cricut cutting mat
Coloured Card (any thickness)
Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
3D foam pads

This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machines: Explore series, Maker series, Joy Xtra, Joy and Joy 2. You will need to make the design smaller to cut on the Joy or Joy 2.

Foundation learning

If you're new to making papercrafts with your cutting machine, check out these links to get you started.

They include videos on topics such as: which file to use with your type of cutting machine, how to load the files into your cutting machine's software, how to cut cardstock with your type of cutting machine, how to recolor and modify/customize the cut files and tips for displaying your projects.

The following tutorials are Cricut-specific, but many of the ideas will work similarly with a Silhouette or ScanNCut machine and any cut files that are shared in them are compatible with all types of cutting machine.

How to score with a Cricut (even without scoring tools)
Print then cut tutorial
Design Space tools (Combine, Attach, Slice, Weld, Flatten, etc.)
Pattern fill tutorial (for making backgrounds & cutting images to a specific shape/size)
Free envelope SVGs that can be sized to fit any card
Presentation boxes for handmade cards
How to write inside cards with Cricut pens
How to cut layered designs at a small size
Design Space tips & tricks
Cricut pens tutorial
How to mount multiple designs in the same frame with magic guides

Santa and reindeer craft video tutorial

Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.

Want to share your thoughts on this project? Click here to visit the video on YouTube any time AFTER the free version of this project is released at 9am ET on 13th November 2026.

Written tutorial (with photos!)

Here’s how to make this Christmas craft project using a Cricut machine.

Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space

Get the files using the box below.

Purchase the File(s)

This cut file is available as part of the Instant Access Bundle.

Find out more

Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.

Not sure how to do this? Click here for a tutorial that covers all the following types of computer and device:

How to unzip a folder on a Windows computer
How to unzip a folder on a Mac
How to unzip a folder on an iPad
How to unzip a folder on an iPhone
How to unzip a folder on an Android device

How to unzip download folders

After unzipping, upload the SVG file(s) into your cutting machine software.

Not sure how to use cut files with your type of machine? The following links lead to tutorials on how to use cut files in:

If you are using Cricut Design Space, start a new project and then click the “Upload” button on the left of the screen.

You can then either click “Browse” to find the file on your computer, or drag-and-drop it.

Select the file in the “01 Cricut Version” subfolder called svg-01-santa-clouds-craftwithsarah.svg

Press “Upload” on the next screen.

After uploading, the design should be automatically inserted onto your Canvas.

To hide the left sidebar (to give you more space for designing!), click the arrow that’s about half way down the page.

If the design doesn’t get inserted onto your Canvas, it will show under “Uploads” in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Add to Canvas” to put it onto your Project.

Need help uploading SVGs? Get step-by-step instructions here in our detailed help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut.

Step 2) Size the design

Click the design on your canvas and use the width/height boxes near the top of the screen to make it the size that you want to cut.

TIP: Make sure the padlock icon above the width/height boxes is CLOSED before you resize. If it appears “open”, click it with your mouse to close it.

I cut my design at the size the SVG loaded in at, which is 7 inches wide and 7 inches tall.

If you resize it smaller than 5 inches wide then some of the details may get hard to cut. Here’s a tutorial on how to cut designs really small with a Cricut.

If you are cutting this design on a Cricut Joy or Joy 2 machine then you’ll need to make it a maximum of 4.5 inches on the shortest side.

Here are some tips for making sure the design fits perfectly into a shadow box frame:

The below video has some tips on how to frame your craft project, including my Number One hack for making sure that your design will fit perfectly every time without wasting any of your craft materials.

Don't have a Cricut? Check out my top framing tips for:

Silhouette Studio (for Silhouette machines)
CanvasWorkspace (for ScanNCut machines)

Want to learn more about designing your own shadow box backgrounds? Check out this Papercraft Porch Class on creating custom backgrounds for frames and greetings cards.

There are matching versions of this video for Silhouette and ScanNCut machines on the Cutting Machine Help page.

Step 3) Cut out all the layers

When you’re happy with how the project is looking in Design Space, click “Make” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the pieces.

To change the paper size, go into the dropdowns over on the left side of the screen and choose the paper size that you want to use. You need to change it for every single colour.

To save space on your cardstock, you can move things around by clicking and dragging. When you’re moving things about, make sure that no pieces overlap, otherwise they won’t cut out properly.

TIP: New to using cardstock with your cutting machine? Check out these machine help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut that go through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your machine.

Step 4) Stick the project together

Use 3D foam pads and glue to stick the layers together.

Use this guide to see the order to stick the layers together in.

A printable version of this assembly guide is included in the folder when you download the cut files.

My favourite glues to use on papercraft projects are Bearly Art Glue and Collall All Purpose Glue.

These are great because they don’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!

Bearly Art Glue comes with a tiny nozzle to make it easy to apply glue to small pieces of card. Collall glue doesn’t come with this, so it’s best to decant it into needle tip applicator bottles so that you have more control.

The foam pads that I use are from “Dot & Dab”, but any foam squares will work. If yours are big then you may need to cut them smaller with scissors to fit inside the edges of the layers.

When adding the foam pads to larger pieces of card, make sure you add some in the middle of the pieces of card so it gives stability to the entire piece.

If you don’t add any foam pads in the middle then it can “sag” under the weight of the other layers which doesn’t look as good.

Continue sticking the pieces together, following the assembly guide, until your papercraft is all finished.

Layered Santa and Sleigh Papercraft

Your Santa sleigh layered design is finished!

I love how the foam squares create different levels throughout the design, making it look like Santa and his reindeer are flying through the clouds.

The little flashes of glitter cardstock showing through the stars add some lovely sparkle too.

There are lots of ways you could customise this project by changing the colours or experimenting with which layers you glue and which you raise with foam squares.

For even more perspective, you could glue the two reindeer that are furthest away directly onto the layer underneath, then use foam squares for Santa and the two closer reindeer. This would make the further-away reindeer appear more distant in the night sky.

You could then mount your papercraft in a shadow box or glue it to the front of a greetings card.

If you’d rather not mount it in a shadow box, check out these free easel stands for two alternative ways to display it.

Or, go for a more simplistic approach by making a triangle stand or nail hook.

The triangle stands are completely invisible from the front of the project, making it look like it’s standing up by magic! The hooks allow you to hang the design straight on the wall without a frame.

Love Santa themed craft projects?

Check out these other Father Christmas themed SVGs for even more crafting fun!