Silhouette Ornaments

I was fortunate enough to share this tutorial in a guest post on Crazy About My Baybah, Family and Life in Las Vegas, and The Life of a Sippy Cup Mom a month ago and wanted to have the tutorial available on my blog as well. 

Each year growing up, my parents would buy each of us kids an ornament. We had our own themes that my mom would try to stick to. I always had rocking horses or angels. Apparently this was a tradition my paternal grandparents had with my father as well! When we got married, my hubby and I decided to continue the tradition with our own twist. Each year, our family’s ornaments have a different theme. One year we each got a nativity, another nutcrackers, etc.

I also love the idea of framing and hanging up silhouettes of my children, but in our apartment, we are very limited on how many holes we put in the wall. So this, year, we are each getting our own silhouette ornament!
All you need are a round piece of wood the size your want your ornaments to be for each member of your family. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for 70ish cents and they are 2 inches wide.
Drill a hole in each of your discs for the hanger to go through. Did you know dremel tools can drill? I seriously didn’t until this project!
On the back, I used Mod Podge to transfer our printed names and date. For my boys I used their first and middle names, but just used Mommy & Daddy for my husband & I. Click on the link above to see more detailed instructions and other ideas for photo transfer techniques with Mod Podge.
To transfer ink, print out the text backwards. Cover the paper with Mod Podge (not too much) and adhere to your disc. Rub thoroughly to make sure there are no air bubbles.

Let dry. I would wait several hours, if not an entire day. Spray the paper with a little bit of water and start rubbing gently with your fingers. The paper fibers will start to rub off and you’ll begin to see the text (or image). Keep rubbing until there are no more fibers. If there are some left, when it dries your image will look somewhat ghost-like. If the text starts tearing, set it down, let it dry and come back with a gentle touch, spraying and rubbing.
 
For the front, I made everyone in my family stand against a white wall and shot a few pictures of their profile. I then took those pictures into paint.net and erased anything around them.
I’m not terribly computer minded, so I literally just printed out the profiles, cut them out and used a Sharpie to color them black :). Mod Podge your silhouettes to the discs and let dry.
Coat both sides with additional Mod Podge and if desired spray with an acrylic sealer (12 oz for under $6 at Walmart!) for more durability.

These are perfect for your own tree or for cute little gifts for Grandma and Grandpa! Have fun crafting!

I'm linking up to Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest, Friday Link Party @ Creation Corner, Everything But the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack, and Crazy Cute Link Party @ Between U & Me.