Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Make Your Own Custom Silhouette Portrait

One last idea for your Valentine. Here's a tutorial on how to make your own custom silhouette portrait for the one you love.



You will need scissors, card stock, stapler, tracing paper or vellum (I bought vellum because it has more applications for other paper crafting projects) a clear profile photograph, pencil and a glue stick.




Place the vellum over your photograph and carefully trace over the profile, making sure to include the idiosyncratic details that will make your profile instantly recognizable- funny tufts of hair and all.
Staple the vellum to the card stock and then carefully cut it out. You may have to do this more than once to get it right- the details can be tricky.


I played around with lots of different framing options for these. Once you choose a favorite, glue the finished silhouettes to a pretty background and frame.


You could also scan the finished silhouettes and upload them to Snapfish to make adorable custom coffee mugs, tote bags or tees. I think this would make the cutest surprise for Mother or Father's Day. Do a portrait of everyone in the family- including your pets!

15 comments:

Unknown said...

This is probably the best Valentine's day idea I've seen yet. I remember doing these in grade school and loving them! Seriously 'fab' idea!

Kris said...

I love this idea! I've always wanted to make silhouettes of my children- thank you for sharing!

skinner studio said...

What a simply beautiful idea! I love the classic look paired with bold, fun prints. Thanks for sharing - I'm going to try it!

Anonymous said...

You are creative and talented!

prettygeeky.com said...

Another great idea, I am in awe! ...and I am again filled with nostalgic moments from childhood. I remember in art class we did something similar to this but we actually had someone draw our profile from our shadow on the wall. =p

Peterson Party of 5 said...

Iam so glad you posted this! I have been wanting to create silouhettes of the fam.
I am bookmarking this!
Love it!

ice pink stars said...

i loved the idea of using a map as a background, so i created a silhouette of my husband after seeing your directions!
uploaded a pic & i mentioned you here :) thank you.

Prin said...

Hi! I think that this is a wonderful idea. I've always wanted to create a slhouette "portrait". Thanks so much for sharing:)

erin m jones said...

Thank you for such a beautiful and easy to follow post! Definitely sharing with everyone!

The Beading Gem said...

Thanks so much for this super easy tutorial. I was looking for silhouette tutorials for a future blog post. I will link when I do!

Anonymous said...

I am so excited to see this! We are doing outlines of ourselves and our bridal party as decor for our reception! Problem being that the bridal party is in 3 states and 2 countries! YIKES! So glad I can still have what I wanted! THANK YOU!!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to try this. My 5 yr old and I are trying to find a bunch of fun crafts for the summer that will help keep us busy and be good for her sensory disfunction from the autism. This just got added to the list thanks for sharing.
Already a GFC follwer, but following on twitter and facebook now too =)

Kelli aka One Blonde
www.oneblondesramblings.com

photo flipbook said...

Wonderful ! thanks for sharing such a great information with us. I will try this at home.

Laura @ The Soulful House said...

I simplified mine a little bit by removing a few steps and then I made the silhouette in white for a twist on the traditional. See the quick and easy tutorial at:

http://thesoulfulhouse.com/2011/12/how-to-make-silhouettes/

Laury said...

I love this! I've included a link in my sept week 2 post as a great gift to celebrate grandparents day. Thanks so much for showing us how!

Laury
http://familylifeplanner.com/blog/2011/09/september-week-2/

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