Not Your Grandmother's Silhouettes

I have a large blank wall in the hallway of my apartment which I wanted to dedicate to family pictures. Instead of doing the over-done collage pictures I decided to make silhouettes. These wouldn't be ordinary black and white silhouettes, but with different patterns and colors.

First, I took side profile pictures of my family members against a blank white wall. Be sure to turn the flash off, otherwise you'll get a shadow that will be hard to follow for tracing purposes. Get prints of the pictures or just print them off on regular computer paper as all you will be doing is tracing them. Also, have several choices of patterned and solid paper, fabric, wrapping paper, whatever you want to use. Don't use construction paper as it frays very easily.

I then went to second hand stores and thrift stores to find some wooden frames of all different shapes and sizes. These can be found for just a few dollars! The color did not matter as I would be spray painting them. I even found an old tray to use as a frame.

Next, I lined the frames up on the floor and chose who was going where. The family consists of 4 boys (including the dog) and 4 girls, so I went with a boy girl boy girl theme. I also decided what paper would be used for each person. Even though they were all different, I made sure mismatched colors didn't go next to each other, all the backgrounds were patterned and all the silhouettes were solid.

Now onto spray painting. I picked an olive green spray paint for the frames. Green is one of my favorite colors, so usually whatever else I pick matches along with it.

This was a very fast process as the spray paint takes just 10 minutes to dry. I did 2 coats of the green and one coat of a clear flat finish.

After the frames were all set, it was time to trace the pictures onto tracing paper that can be found at any craft store.

Carefully cut the tracing out, you might want to use small cuticle scissors as well as large scissors for certain areas.

If you do not want a template to keep for future projects, skip this step. I traced the tracing paper cut outs onto a thicker paper, such as poster board and cut those out. Use small pieces of tape to secure the tracing in place.

After cutting out your permanent template, go on and trace them onto the silhouette paper. What I did was use the back of the silhouette paper and turned my template backwards, so that there would be no pencil marks on the side I would use and the face would be facing the correct way.

Be sure to cut your background paper to fit the specific frame.

Once the silhouettes were cut out, I used a spray adhesive to ensure they would stick properly without the corners peeling up.

Once the pictures were in their frames, I grabbed my staple gun and stapled ribbon to the back of the frames for hanging. (Purple for the girls, blue for the boys).

Final Impression: 
This was one of the most fun crafts I've ever done. I will be doing a lot more silhouette projects in the future. Definitely a project you can work on and come back to when you have a few minutes.

Kids Bureau

A few years ago my mother bought an old bureau from a yard sale for $20 thinking it could be a good project for me. We brain-stormed and thought it would be cute to make it for my niece with a Madeline theme. Madeline is a very popular book in my family, so passing it down to hear meant a lot.

To be completely honest, I wasn't prepared at all with tools and proper paint, so I just used what we had and also borrowed some paint from my neighbor who just painted a home office for themselves.

Off to start priming with plain old white paint!



After the priming was done and dry, it was time to make Madeline's house. I painted the bureau an tan-ish color while making the top a terra-cotta thanks to my neighbor! I knew from memory "in an old house in Paris that was covered in vines.." was the basis of this house. I also found a small picture of the actual house online and printed out as a guideline. After the tan base was dry, I then made some windows with balconies, dipped a paper towel into some dark brown paint, dabbed it all around the house, made the vines, and of course, Madeline and her dog Genevieve.





I thought the top needed one more finishing touch:

Final Impression: 
The Madeline bureau was so much fun to make. I knew it could be a complete disaster since I wasn't prepared, but what did I have to lose, $20? So I went for it. I'm really glad with the way it came out, and now can not just pass the book on, but the bureau as well.

Old Chairs into New Dining Set

Before I moved into my current apartment, I didn't know what I wanted as far as a dining set. The sets I liked were expensive and also came in a million pieces that needed to be put together. I decided to use part of the money I'd spend on a new set and find some old chairs to revamp. 


Knowing I wanted to do this before actually moving was an advantage because I could take my time to find exactly what I wanted. First, I went to a fabric store to find some inspiration. My chairs were going to be all different, but be the same in color and upholstery. I scoured through a few second hand stores and found many chairs, but a lot of them were not in the best condition. My goal was to find 4 different shape chairs, all that needed upholstery, and most importantly, sturdy. I found 3 chairs pretty easily, but finding just one more was the hardest. The pre-makeover pictures are below. 

I also found this farm house table at a second hand store to complete my set!

After finding the right upholstery fabric, which was a black and white theme, I was ready to prime and paint my furniture. I chose an almost black color paint and it took 4 coats to realize it wasn't going to get any darker. It just looked navy blue, so after much frustration, I went back to the paint store and told them it was wrong, which they agreed the second they opened the can and mixed me a new gallon. 3 more coats, and finally, I could see the black! 

My only experience with upholstering is from watching Trading Spaces. I eagerly bought myself a staple gun and couldn't wait to use it. I had the seat cushions already unscrewed from the chairs I had painted, then placed the fabric on the floor with the design facing down, put the cushion upside down on the fabric, and started stapling from the middle on each side to the corners. You have to be sure to pull as tight as you can so it doesn't stretch too much and wrinkle once the chairs are in use. I was very surprised  how easy this was and can't wait to use my staple gun again. :)


Ready for my finished product? Tah Dah...

I had a valance made out of the extra fabric to pull it all together. 

Final impression: 

Having the time to do this project was a huge positive. After doing 3 coats of the wrong paint, I was ready to give up and buy a set, but I took a break for the night and started back the next day ready to go! It's very important when you get frustrated in any project to take a break, even if you want to finish as soon as possible. Take that break because it will really show a difference in your work. When you rush through things, it never comes out the way you wanted, so take your time. I am so happy with my set!