Gift Idea

This past Christmas, with the economy so crazy and Reed's job situation so tenuous, I was working with a stiff budget. We're big picture people, but we have so many already I wanted to do something different for a change. So I decided to make silhouettes of the kids to give to Reed and they came out pretty great!

it was really easy and very inexpensive and looks pretty classic! I reused some plain black frames we already had (to keep the costs of this project WAY down) but I think if I were to do it over again I'd try to find some simple black oval frames to really make it look cute. I may still yet move these to oval frames. In any case, here they are with some instructions because people have asked for my "how to".

 

First, and hardest part is to take a good side portrait of whomever. This would be really great if you did moms and grandmas alongside the kids and grandkids...maybe even pets? Who knows? I'm not a pet owner but I know how people treat them like family. Anyway, try to take a profile view with as little distraction as possible behind. White wall, straight on the side and click. Upload to the computer and if you wanted to you could easily let this be the most technical thing you do. For those of you without photoshop or another editing program (or without the skills to work them), simply print out the picture as large as your printer will allow onto plain printer paper, trace over the profile ONLY in the picture with a fine tip sharpie and then flip it over to the back to view what you've got. You should be able to see the sharpie bleed-through and only see your profile. Remember to just outline the edges! Don't forget little details like eyelashes, stray hairs, etc that make the profile unique.
If you like what you've gotten, cut it out with a pair of VERY sharp scissors and use it as a template onto some nice cardstock--I used black but I think it would look really neat with some funky patterns, maybe even to match your decorating style. Then mount on nice white cardstock and frame. DONE!

If you're a bit more tech savvy, you know you can do most of that work on the computer. Upload your pic and convert to black and white (grayscale). up/lower the contrast until you get some clean lines to work with and crop the picture down to just the head and neck. Resize the picture to print out as large as you can on your printer. You can stop here, print this image and use as your template for cutting out cardstock or continue on digitally.
to continue digitally, use your want and click outside of your profile. Select the inverse. Get your paint bucket tool, set the fill color to "black" and click inside your profile. Resize your image to fit your frame. Add a name if you want--I personally like it without but I've seen some really cute ones with some old fashioned font. Print out on the best quality on nice paper and voila! :)