If you are an artist, go on and draw your own reindeer ! It is the best way to have a final product as close as you desire. 

If you are like me, and stickman figure is the only thing that you can do with a paper and a pencil, AI got your back ! You can generate a design with XTOOL xArt.

To achieve a design suitable for multi-layering, I have added the following attributes to my prompt:

• "Sticker" will create a black outline that can be use as the edge and also provide a second layer
• "Profile view” / “Whole body” will prevent you from having the Reindeer facing or just the head. 
• A minimalist setting is best for this kind of laser-cut design.

You can see that it has taken several tries to get the perfect image, here is of of my attemps !

You've got a nice image, great ! Now it's time to prep it for the machine.

To separete the different layer of your Reindeer, you will need to vectorise the desing.

For simple ones, you can use XTOOL image editing and trace tool. 

For more complex project is here my prefered method :

• Vectorize the file using an AI Vectoriser tool such as Vectorizer.AI, It keep relly good details and you select parrameter to better fit your need. I use the “Draw Style : Fill shape” and “Group by : Layer” parameters
• Use an image editing tool such as InkSkape to only keep the layer you want and tweak the paths if not what you desire

Here is a little tip : when you are fine with your Reindeer profile, you can prototype it cuting paper or cardboard on your machine. It help noticing if you have done mistake on the layering !

To create an inner support between the two reindeer profiles, you have different possibilities:

The easiest one would be to create three rectangular pieces and glue them to the inner face of the reindeer. By doing so, your design is more mistake proof as you can still define where you awnt to place your inner support. However if you want to fill this decoration with plenty of goods it might not hold up, cause we all know there is never enough christmas chocolate !

To make it more sturdy, we can use joints ! Seeing the joints on the side of box can be pretty, but in this ornament it will stick out like a sore thumb ! 

Here is my little tip : in multi layering project you can hide your joints below a layer to make it disapear, magic isn't it  ?

Complex assembly can be done in a CAD software, but for this simple one, let me show you how I made it in Inkscape!

please note that you will need to activate the “Snapping” fuction to align peices togheter

• Step 1 : Take your design and trace overlaping rectanngles with height dimension equal to your material thickness (here 3mm). It is easier to use round number for lenght. keep a symetrical design and ensure that your rectangles are passing though pieces of the 2nd layer Here beard, tail (blue) and belly (red).
• Step 2 : create others rectangles (green) (still 3mm height) inside this covered area, make they are snap the the top of the underneath rectangle for the side, and in the midle of base.
• Step 3 : Create a “unfolded” representation of the supports, by giving rectangles the same width as the one you define on the step 1 and add length based on the size that you want your ornament to be, 100mm for me. add also the green joints according to step 2. after that create a rectagle on each side for making the joints stick out (yellow).
•  Step 4 :  create the joints between the support, by adding again some 3mm rectangle (light blue), one time on dark blue support, anf the other time on the red support. here 2 joints will be enought, but you can add more as long as you keep alternating them.
• Step 5 : use the noolean tool to bobine all the needed rectangle into 3 support.
• Step 6 : on the layer 1 of the Reindeer, always using the boolean tool, remove joints from the shape (yellow)

Ta-dah! You've just created a joint assembly design without any CAD software. Congratulations!

Time to move on to XCS ! Import your SVG without rescaling (we need to keep the 3mm wide joints) and try to position as much element s as you can on 1 sheet. We call this activity “nesting”.

If you are a good puzzle solver, you can attempt it by hand ! but if you want some extra help from your computer, go check out DeepNest.io software, it is open source and it can help you save ton of material for complex project.

Here is few tips of my own on this paticular project : 

• Scoring for perferct positioning of glued element : to know exactly where to place small glued details, i score the outline of the elecment on the base. that what I have done for the eyes, ear and the dots on this project
• Create straight and clean cut for reusing material scraps : I prefereto have clean cutted sheet of material in my stock, so when my design doesnt use 100% of a sheet, i draw straigt cutting line to save me from sawing it again
• Anticipating paint layer thickening: If you want to paint parts before assembly, it's always good to add some play in the design to account for paint layer thickening. For exemple you can create an + 0.5 / 1 mm outline on the joints holes.
• Dont forget to mirror your design : when you work on a 2 faced pojects it is alwais better to mirror your design so that you have the same finish without burtn mark on each side. 

Your job on the computer is done, now let's make it real! I have made the design for the XTOOL P2 machine, but I leave you the SVG file if you want to adapt it.

MDF is a material that absorbs a lot of paint, so it's a good idea to apply a coat of primer or sealant.

I used 2 or 3 coat of spray paint to have a good finish.

Now, let's get those pieces together! I used super glue for assembly and layering.

Your reindeer is officially complete ! now its up to you for the filling, add soil and small flower for a natural center piece, or drop some candy inside for the joy of young and not-so-young too !