Easy Keepsake Gift for Grandmothers

For Christmas, I’m making silhouettes of the kids for my mom and mother-in-law.  I wasn’t sure I could do it, but it was actually much easier than I thought!  I’m going to show you the pictures of Thing One along the way, and I’ll show you both kids at the end.  (Thing Two would not put on a shirt, so it’s kind of risque…)

Step One: Put your subject(kid, cat, dog, whatever) against a white or light background, and get a good profile picture.

Step Two(much easier if you have Photoshop): Go into Photoshop and use the “Magic Wand” tool to select and delete the background.  I turned mine black and white, so the lines would be more distinct.  Then you can print(on white cardstock for best results) the back-groundless picture and cut it out.  OR…go the old-fashioned route of printing out the picture at a store photo-lab and cutting out the shape.

Step Three:  Use the picture/shape you cut out as a template, and cut out the silhouette onto a piece of cardstock.  I used traditional solid black.  (Eyelashes are the hardest part…I suggest using little bitty manicure scissors.)  But you could do some really fun and funky stuff with all different kinds of crafting papers!

Step Four:  Mount it on a background(once again, I used traditional white).  Frame, and  you’re ready to give this keepsake!  (I obviously haven’t framed this, and there’s a little bit of a shadow, but you get the idea.) 

Have fun making yours and good luck!