For Christmas, my wonderful husband gave me a Silhouette die cutter. I have really enjoyed playing with it. I was talking to my girlfriend, Rachel, and she was asking me if I could make silhouettes with the die cutter -- you know, silhouettes like the ones you can occasionally get at the mall for $30. I really hadn't considered it, but yes, I thought I could pull that off.
I made my boys stand against a plain background (my kitchen wall) and I took a profile picture. I put the pictures into Photoshop and erased the background. I then filled the profile with black and made a digital silhouette. I had a revelation at this step, and realized that I didn't have to have a fancy die cutter to cut this out -- I could just print the silhouette onto vanilla cardstock and I'd have the image that I wanted. I tried it, and fell completely in love with the results.
I printed this one small, and taped it into a blank pendant. I filled it in with Crystal Effects and set it aside to dry for 24 hours. It is not super durable -- you can scratch the surface if you try, but it does look great. If I remember correctly, the pendant blank was only about $5 online -- so this is a great piece of personalized jewelry for very little money.
The box was an after-thought. If I've learned anything from all the fabulous blogs I read, it's that packaging is important. It makes the smallest gifts seem special. I had an empty Altoids tin on my desk, and decided to Mod Podge on some pretty black and white DSP. I added the hearts for Valentine's Day and some torn Mulberry Paper to set them off. The inside of the box is just white cardstock. I cut a piece of paper slightly larger than the box. I traced the box outline and then snipped the extra paper so that it would fold around the box curves -- creating a raised piece for the necklace to sit.
If you are interested in a digital silhouette of your child, and don't have a software editing program, I will be happy to do it for you. Email me (barefootstamper@gmail.com) a profile picture of your child, against a plain background, and I'll be happy to do it for you. I'll charge $10, using PayPal.
