Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Silhouette Wall Art

 Maybe it's just me but I absolutely LOVE silhouettes of kids and I knew I definitely wanted to include one in my daughter's room. There are lots of ideas out there that are supposed to be easier than this, most of which involve various computer programs, but I found this to be a good approach and I love the final product. First off you start with a picture of your child taken from the side (it should go without saying that getting one of these from my 4 year old was MUCH easier than with my 1 1/2 year old!)
I put this in black and white with high contrast to help the outline be crisp, but I ended up loving the picture this way.
I use a pre-cut wooden shape from Michael's that was already primed with white paint. It may be a little more in cost, but these shapes save you a ton of time in sanding and fewer paint layers are needed. Well worth it in my book. 
I just cut out the outline of her picture using an x-acto knife and then traced and cut it out of black acid free paper. You could use a variety of patterned papers and background colors for a more whimsical look
Then I placed the cut out on the form, but didn't glut it down. I wanted a bright accent color so I traced a small plate to get a crisp circle and then painted the outer edge this bright green:
After the paint dried, I adhered the silhouette with matte finish mod podge. 
Here is the final result:
I also found a tip on how to make tiny bows for crafts and cards here so I made a tiny bow to give a fun accent. 
I love this for any room in the house, but I will definitely be doing this for my son's room as well. It would be great to have these as they grow to put together for a family wall of silhouettes when the kids are older. 

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