With only a few basic crafters’ tools, you can quickly create paper silhouettes. They make beautiful, inexpensive gifts idea for so many different occasions. I have given silhouettes as gifts for Mother’s Day, Christmas, birthdays, weddings and baby showers.
The paper silhouette is simply a foreground page with an image cut out of it layered on top of a background page. The silhouettes can be placed in frames for a much more finished look and presented as gifts. You do not need mats for your frames because the silhouettes create their own mats.
The paper silhouette is simply a foreground page with an image cut out of it layered on top of a background page. The silhouettes can be placed in frames for a much more finished look and presented as gifts. You do not need mats for your frames because the silhouettes create their own mats.
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Signing UpStep 1: Choosing and Prepping Your Stencil
Finding the Right Silhouette Design: To create your design printout, you must first find an image that will “work”. Simple black and white designs work best. You will also need to choose an image (or alter it) so there are no “floating” pieces of the image. Everything must attach. For instance, in the image shown, if the bird was in flight, with no part of it touching the branches, the bird would fall out of the design once it is cut out. Since the bird is sitting on the branch, it becomes a solid piece of the design and can be used.
Also, every part of the design must in some way be connected to the edges of the image. In the image shown, all of the branches, flowers, etc can be followed to the edges of the images with no interruptions. The spaces where your design meets the edges of the image are your anchor points. The more anchors you have, the “sturdier” your design will be. You can certainly use an image with very few anchors, but your design will be harder to cut out.
Flip the design so you wind up with a mirror image and print it out. This printout is your stencil.
Prepping Your Stencil: Trim around the edges of the stencil leaving an even border all the way around. (If you leave a half inch boarder on one side, leave a half inch border all the way around. In my image, I left no border).
Center your stencil face up on the BACK of your foreground paper. Use a ruler to make sure it is centered because once the completed image is in a frame, a crooked design becomes more obvious. I used the ruler and a pencil to mark out the borders on the foreground paper for my stencil.
Using the scotch tape, secure all sides of the stencil. You do not need to tape the whole edge. Just make sure the edges are secure so they don’t move. It is best to have a piece of tape at each anchor point.
Also, every part of the design must in some way be connected to the edges of the image. In the image shown, all of the branches, flowers, etc can be followed to the edges of the images with no interruptions. The spaces where your design meets the edges of the image are your anchor points. The more anchors you have, the “sturdier” your design will be. You can certainly use an image with very few anchors, but your design will be harder to cut out.
Flip the design so you wind up with a mirror image and print it out. This printout is your stencil.
Prepping Your Stencil: Trim around the edges of the stencil leaving an even border all the way around. (If you leave a half inch boarder on one side, leave a half inch border all the way around. In my image, I left no border).
Center your stencil face up on the BACK of your foreground paper. Use a ruler to make sure it is centered because once the completed image is in a frame, a crooked design becomes more obvious. I used the ruler and a pencil to mark out the borders on the foreground paper for my stencil.
Using the scotch tape, secure all sides of the stencil. You do not need to tape the whole edge. Just make sure the edges are secure so they don’t move. It is best to have a piece of tape at each anchor point.
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Not NiceInappropriateSpamhkarthik says:
Apr 28, 2013. 9:52 AMReply
Hi, this is an amazing craft work! i loved doing this one soooo much... thanks for posting... And here are pics of the one s i did following you :-) The first one i did was to gift someone... The end product was so beautiful that i decided to make one for myself, which is the second one :-)
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mrscoloradogal (author) says:
Apr 28, 2013. 9:59 AMReplyBeautiful! Thank you for posting your pictures! Great job!
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poofrabbit says:
May 10, 2012. 6:56 PMReplyThis is fantastic!
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mrscoloradogal (author) says:
May 16, 2012. 12:30 PMReplyThank you! It was fun...and pretty quick. Makes for a nice "immediate gratification" craft. :)
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poofrabbit says:
May 16, 2012. 4:07 PMReplyYes I would agree, I'm going to make one, I have a friend with a Bday coming up who would think this was the cats meow! I will post a pic when I finish
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mrscoloradogal (author) says:
May 16, 2012. 4:13 PMReplyThat would be wonderful! Looking forward to seeing it!
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poofrabbit says:
May 16, 2012. 3:45 PMReplyHey congrats on your win in Scoochmaroo Challenge for Mother's Day!!
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mrscoloradogal (author) says:
May 16, 2012. 4:07 PMReplyThank you!
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scoochmaroo says:
May 16, 2012. 12:27 PMReplySo Beautiful!
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mrscoloradogal (author) says:
May 16, 2012. 12:31 PMReplyThank you! I enjoyed making it!
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