I’ve been wanting to do the silhouette thing for a while but just hadn’t gotten very motivated until I was looking through some old pictures with the kids and came across this one from 5 years ago:

His squishy cheeks and his little, “What am I posing like this for?” face just warm my heart. And it’s a perfect silhouette shot. So I silhouetted it in Photoshop, printed it out and cut it out of some of Anna Maria’s voile. It was so easy to snip all the details out of the lucious, lightweight fabric. And yes, I think that’s an appropriate use of the word “silhouetted”.

I couldn’t possibly have cut that perfect circle out without my nifty Olfa circle cutter. Not sure if it’s my motor skills or what, but for a project like this one where the raw edges are showing, I just don’t get a clean enough circle with scissors. I am a big fan of this tool.

Unfortunately it’s max size circle is ~8″. Sometimes, I like to cut bigger ones. It also takes some getting used to applying the pressure and turning it at the same time – it’s one of those times that happen to me a lot, actually, that I wish I had an extra hand.
A word on finding images to use for silhouettes: It’s really hard to find a picture that will look good this way. I googled “twirling girl” in hopes of finding a little girl shot that would work. Aerial shots are out because there wouldn’t be any detail to see. The angle has to be just right otherwise arms and legs get distorted in the silhouetting process. I found a perfect picture where the girl had ponytails with her arms out. The only problem? The right to use it would cost me $50. No thanks.

Some similar ideas to inspire:
The frames above the crib shown here. The same method above could be used for these.
The silhouettes above the bunkbed here. Love the girl blowing bubbles.
More Happy Circles posts here (mine) and here (my sister’s).
Happy circles to you!