D.I.Y. Silhouettes

I have always like the look of silhouettes. My mother-in-law has two of her sons that I think are so sweet. And when my first born came into this world with the chubbiest round cheeks I had ever seen, I vowed I would create a silhouette of that precious round face. In truth, I never got that done. I did, however, get it done for her 7 year old profile, along with her two younger siblings. So, I'm six years late on this project, but I'm still calling it a win, because they turned out so cute!

I started with some old yard sale frames and spray paint. The art was removed, and the frames got a good spray of color in the backyard. This picture shows my first idea, which was to paint each frame a different color. That looked adorable, but mid-project, I switched gears and changed the overall look of the kid's bath where they would be hanging. In the end, they were all painted yellow.

Taking the pictures for the silhouettes was very haphazard. My girls were old enough to stand still for me in front of a blank wall. Yes, their hair looks so much prettier when it's combed, but this was not going to show in the final project. These are just to show you how informal the picture taking can be, and still turn out great.

I had the hardest time capturing my toddler son at the right angle. I just chased him around with the camera until I got it. This is the photo I ended up using.

Yes, he has a boo-boo on his head. 

He's fine now, and it didn't show in the silhouette.

So, I finally got the shots. Using PicNic for editing, I was able to make all the profiles the same size, and face the same direction. Then I printed them out on card stock. Once they were printed, I cut them out, turned them over and spray painted the blank side black. I mounted them with rubber cement onto another piece of cardstock that I had printed with their names, ages and the year these were made. 

I wanted to protect them a little since they were going to hang in the kid's bathroom. I didn't have any glass to front them with, so I used a plastic sheet protector (the kind you would use in binders) to cut out the right size protective cover, and slipped that into the front of each frame followed by each picture and finally some cardboard to hold it all in tight. 

I absolutely love how this turned out. 

I plan to keep these for a good, long while.