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12.22.10 / DIY Silhouettes

I found these 2 wooden plaques at Goodwill for $3 each.

Hideous, right?  I was wanting to paint silhouettes of my boys for my Mom as a Christmas gift.  My Mom’s style is a bit more traditional than mine, so the intricate wooden frames would fit right into her decor.  I figured the flower art could easily be painted over, so I grabbed them up.  I primed…

…and painted them.  {I painted them the same Benjamin Moore Harbour Town as I used in my nieces’ handmade gifts.}  I took several profile pictures of Layne and Everett and picked the best one of each.

I traced the outline of each boy’s silhouette onto plain notebook paper – straight from my computer screen.

I cut each silhouette.

Then I used a projector to project the silhouettes onto the wooden plaques.  I drew them on with a pencil then traced over with a black Sharpie to get a clean outer edge.  {Notice I flattened out my boys’ hair for a smoother silhouette.}

Then I painted inside the Sharpie lines with black gloss paint that I already had on hand.  Here’s the final product {still a little wet}…

The goal is to make my Mom cry.  Think I’ll succeed?

images:  all by Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

16 Comments

22.December.2010

Cute. I know my Mom would absolutely love that.

22.December.2010

I think those are fantastic- she’ll love them. That is a great idea!

22.December.2010

I made one of these today! I like the addition of the eyelashes. I didn’t think of that. Boo.

22.December.2010

Nice work Dana!

22.December.2010

What an awesome idea! They are beautiful! She will definitely cry! :)

23.December.2010

Hey, great blog,I’ve been following recently. Your house is beautiful and right up my alley. Anyway, these are stunning, but I have to ask, doesn’t your mom read your blog?? Just wondering….

23.December.2010

Adorable! Did you get a chance to peek at the ones that Young House Love did for their girl? Their method involved a lot of guessing, and I much prefer your method. I don’t have kiddos, but certainly a silhouette of my dog would be fun. Too bad no one would appreciate my puupys snout on their wall! Gift for me then! :)

23.December.2010

Elizabeth – Yeah, I saw YHL’s! Those are 2 super creative peeps over there. Love them! A silhouette of your pup would be a great idea.

23.December.2010

Y – Oddly enough, my Mom does not read my blog. Plus, I made sure to post about her gifts just a few hours before she got to open them {last night}… just in case someone who DOES read my blog let it slip.

23.December.2010

Samantha – My boys have been blessed with the most beautiful eyes and eyelashes. {I may be a little biased about that.} I had to include them!

02.January.2011

gorgeous! so did she cry?! I love the emphasised eyelashes – beautiful! x

03.January.2011

Belinda – She did get a little teary-eyed. No full-blown hysterics though.

17.January.2011

Hi Dana, I just love these! What a great idea :)

23.January.2011

Wow! I love that you saw those frames and knew they had potential. Awesome project!

24.January.2011

thankyou-thank you-thankyou! I’ve been trying to figure out an easy way to do this myself for over a year. They turned out great and I love the frames!

01.April.2011

Good idea! Love it