I love the classic look of silhouette profiles, and they’re a great way to keep track of how your family’s features change over time, cheap and simple to do.
You will need
- Black card
- Scrapbooking paper
- Frames – I also picked up some acylic paint to stain them black
- Sharp scissors or a craft knife
- A clear picture of the profile of your chosen person and a printer
Lets get started
- Print out your photo – it doesn’t have to be high quality or on photo paper, you just need to be able to see the picture clearly.
- Cut out the profile using scissors or a craft knife. I got away with just a small pair of scissors, but if you’re dealing with a lot of hair and tricky bits then a knife would make the job easier.
Lay the cut out on your black card, facing the opposite direction from where you want your final piece to face. Use a sharp pencil (mechanical pencils are awesome for this) and trace around the outside of the print out, keeping as close to the edge as possible.- Cut along the pencil line, again using a craft knife or scissors, you’ll have to do this is very good light to see the lead marks clearly.
- Frame them! I ended up placing them on scrapbooking paper as I felt the yellow made them pop a little more, but they would work on white or a whatever colour fits in with your decor. Just use a few dabs from a glue stick to put them in place. The frames were $1 each from Ikea and I gave them a quick coat of black acrylic paint to stain them.
I plan on redoing these every January to keep track of the kids and how they change over the years. I’m also planning on going back through my photo archives and doing one for the previous years as well – assuming I can find a suitable photo!
On January - 29 - 2010
Great idea, I definitely want to do this
Awesome site! Although I am not exactly the most handy person with creating crafts, I am going to bookmark this site because it has so many tutorials and good information. You never know when I may want to make a cheap but thoughtful gift.
Keep up the good work!
.-= Steven | The Emotion Machine´s last blog ..How To Combat Work Overload =-.
wow – very cool website (first visit) and what an awesome idea!
I know what I am subjecting the kids to this weekend lol
Thanks for the terrific idea
Thanks, I totally love silhouettes and I cannot wait to try this with some funky pattened scrapbooking paper!
Thanks for sharing – I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and now I have some instructions
I was picturing a big overhead projector, trying to trace your kid’s head on some paper taped to the wall… glad to know it’s as easy as cutting out a picture 
Wow what a great idea and it will save you money from buying one at Disneyland.
My mother owns a salon, and she makes silhouettes of her favorite hair styles and displays them on the wall. It is always an eye-catcher for the customers as a creative outlet for her. I believe she uses black silhouettes on a light turquoise background, so they really stand out.
[...] used a tutorial from a blog but I can’t seem to find it again (sorry!). It was similar to this one. It was so easy- just took a profile pic of the kids, then printed it out and put it on some [...]