Simple Silhouettes

I've seen a lot of silhouette art in home design photos lately.  I just love the classically sweet way that silhouettes really personalize a home.  Whether it's silhouettes of the kids, the family pets, or the entire family, they lend a nostalgic touch of whimsy to any space.  I decided to attempt homemade silhouette art to see if I could do it on the cheap instead of paying for a piece through one of many online resources.  Here is my drama-free and quite simple adventure....I love it when I can report that.

Materials (per silhouette):
- Frame (I chose one with a matte from Marshall's)
- Selected photo, a profile shot enlarged to fit the frame size you've chosen (mine was 5x7) **tips on this below**
- 1 sheet heavy black paper (I chose a linen-textured paper from the scrapbooking section of the craft store)
- 1 sheet colored paper (optional)
- Pencil
- Sharp scissors
- Tape


Instructions:
1. Find a good profile picture of your subject...this was easy for me because our baby girl loves turning away from the camera anytime we take photos.  I flipped through a bunch of our digital photos and found two I wanted to make silhouettes from.  For those of you with kids who actually look at the camera (enter my sarcasm...) here are some quick tips from the Simply Silhouettes site for getting good profile shots:  Place your subject, sitting or standing in a profile (or side facing) position, in a well lit room against a light background.  Position yourself at the same level as the subject, approximately four feet from the subject.  Use a flash when possible and get the subject's entire head and shoulders in the frame.  If possible, snap a shot when the subject has a relaxed face and their mouth is closed...for a more natural looking silhouette.

2. If necessary, enlarge your photos to fit the frame you've selected.  I made two copies of each photo just in case I had an "uh oh" moment.

3. Carefully cut around your subject's head.  Make sure to take your time and include the personalized details, like curls, eye-lashes, lips, chin and nose shape, etc.  The more patient you are, the better it will turn out - I promise!

(Note: I decided to give a full-body shot silhouette a whirl too.  If you have a good picture too, try it!)

4.  Determine which way you want your finished silhouettes to face, then tape the cut-out photo to the back side of your black paper. (If you want baby facing right then tape baby facing left to the back of the paper...it's ok to tape on top of the actual photo because you won't be using it)

5. With the cut-out photo as your profile stencil, carefully trace around the stencil with a pencil.

6. Remove the profile stencil from the black paper, then carefully cut along the pencil line.  This is what you should get...some pretty darn cute silhouette shapes.

7.  You're almost there...  If desired, mount your silhouettes to some colored or even pattered paper.  A silhouette mounted on white paper will look more traditional in style.  I decided to spunk it up a bit for our living room and showcase them on colored paper.

8. Place in frames and hang where all can admire your handiwork!

You can see, we decided to place our sweet girl's silhouettes above her new (and insanely cool) retro kitchen.  I am jealous of her kitchen...if they only made it life size for grown-up girls!

Super adorable if I do say so myself!  You can see that it somewhat mimics the way we have the prints hanging over the TV, which is adjacent to her kitchen.

Just trying to be as design-conscious as possible with toys in the living room.  Now, if only someone could write a book about real-life design and decorating with wee ones.  Hey, I may have found my million-dollar idea!  -Kristen