Positively Splendid {Crafts, Sewing, Recipes and Home Decor}

Handcrafted. Splendidly.

Framed silhouette vignette

By

PinYummlyPrint

I am so proud of myself: for once I am not going to be running with my hair on fire to the nearest post office to have Mothers’ Day packages mailed at the eleventh hour. I wrapped up the gifts for each of our moms yesterday and got them mailed today. Go me!

Ladies and gentlemen, if you are looking for a meaningful project that is sure to impress, but you find yourself short on time or funds (or both), this project is perfect for you. Once again, I found myself coming up with a new use for the silhouettes I created of each of my kiddos using my handy-dandy Photoshop silhouette technique. I am like a moth to a flame. I just can’t stop coming up with new projects to showcase these little jewels!

If you don’t have Photoshop, the very talented Traci at Beneath My Heart posted a terrific tutorial here for how to create silhouettes in a more traditional way. You could easily make your silhouettes as she describes and cut them out and adhere to a 5″ x 7″ white piece of card stock to use in place of the printed silhouette grouping I mention in the supply list below.



Supplies:

8″ x 10″ tabletop frame
Spray paint (optional)
Paper trimmer
1 piece of patterned paper for background, trimmed to 8″ x 10″
1 piece of coordinating card stock, trimmed to 5-3/8″ x 7-3/8″
One silhouette grouping (or a single silhouette, if you prefer), printed onto high quality photo paper, trimmed down to 5″ x 7″
Acid-free adhesive roller
Foam adhesive dots
Dimensional letter stickers (I highly recommend Thickers made by American Crafts – a truly fantastic line of products!)
To begin, spray paint your frame in your chosen color if you so desire so that it can be drying while you work on the rest of the project. You’ll be multi-tasking without even realizing it! 🙂 Remember to wash your hands VERY well before handling the photo paper if you get any paint on your fingers, because you will otherwise wind up with a smudged mess! After that…

Once you’ve completed the steps above, insert your finished vignette into your open frame. (Meaning: leave the glass out!) Part of the charm of this project is the dimension of the various layers, and you don’t want to obscure that with a boring ol’ piece of glass.

And that’s a wrap!


I know I am obviously partial, but aren’t these three absolutely darling little creatures?




Some helpful tips:
  • If you are doing a grouping of silhouettes as I have done here, I recommend creating and saving each individual silhouette as a jpeg, then copying each of those images into a new blank document to create your grouping to print out. That way, if you want to go back later down the road and work with each silhouette individually, you’ll be able to do so without any hassle.
  • It is my own personal preference to add extra dimension by stacking the foam dots in two’s, but you can most certainly use just one dot in each space if you would like.
  • To add stability to your finished project, I recommend adhering your finished vignette to the frame’s glass before framing. If you want to use the frame for another purpose later down the road, you won’t kick yourself for having thrown it out. 😉
Enjoy this day!
Photobucket

By the way, the pics in the tutorial differ from the final project photos I’ve shared because, like a ninny, I neglected to photograph the other before I shipped it. Duh! Good thing I decided to make one for myself for Mothers’ Day. 🙂


I’ll be sharing this at these marvelous parties!

Visit thecsiproject.com

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maureen says

    WOW that is really really beautiful! Will try to play with photoshop for sure. Thank you for sharing this.

    Stopping by from SITS & following you now 😉

  2. The Pratts says

    Thank you for the wonderful idea! Sadly, I am the one who will be running with my hair on fire to the the nearest post office this year! But now at least I have an idea!

  3. Liz says

    I love this idea! Thanks for sharing! I am visiting via TTA and am now a follwer! Have a great aternoon!

  4. a little lovely says

    stopping by from blue cricket design! love this idea! and i love the colors too! i’ll def be doing a silhouette project soon 🙂 thanks for sharing

  5. Stef says

    What a thoughtful gift! I have been thinking about your silhouette tutorial and am trying to decide which wall to redecorate. Thanks for another idea!!

  8. Amy says

    I LOVE this, now I have a new project! I wonder if I can add a silhouette of my dog!
    Can I ask how you got the fonts for your titles on your blog also?

  14. Holly says

    LOVE this so much I can barely stand it! The colors are great and I have a big soft spot for silhouettes! Gorgoues!

  15. Mariska says

    OK, I am blaming you that I didn’t get my housework done today 😉
    Found your Photoshop tutorial for creating silhouettes a couple days ago and today I just HAD to try it. This is SO much fun. Thank you for putting this together!!

  16. Mariska says

    I am back: I just had to share your great idea on my blog, so I put a link to your blog on mine. Didn’t know if you would mind if I used a picture from your blog (if I gave you credit for it), so just to be safe I didn’t do it…

  18. The Pratts says

    I’m back. I made my own version of these (not as cute as yours, but I tried!) and posted them on my blog with a link back to you. Thanks again for the great idea!

  20. Tara C. Wheeler says

    Hi Amy…may sound like a silly question but how did you get the detail such as highlashes and hair sticking out, etc.? I’ve already made some and was trying to get those details since my kiddos have extremely long lashes. Thanks for the tutorial and the info. I love it!

  26. Mayje says

    Hi! Your project is so great! I have been thinking of putting up a frame above our bed but I don’t want to have a glass on it. Your project gave me an idea! Thanks for sharing!