Personalized Wall Art: Tutorial on Making Action Silhouettes of your Family

I started with a regular 4x6 photo that I printed at walgreens of each of my boys doing one of their favorite activities.  I then cut out each child and placed on my overhead projector.  I know its old school, but it works for me.   I used to go into my children's school and use the schools overhead until I found my own at a garage sale for $5! yeah.  Maybe your hubby's office has one you can borrow?  Use your resources and find one to use, or you can always buy one at office max.  I use mine all the time for projects.



I bought a canvas drop cloth $9 (cheap) at walmart, ironed it nice and smooth and hung on the wall so that I could trace my boys.  I placed each child on the overhead one at a time and positioned it so that each child was the size and placement that I wanted.  Sorry I had a picture, but not sure what happened so use your imagination.

With my overhead shining at my canvas on the wall I traced each child with a pencil.



I then painted each child with some black latex paint.  Let that dry while you cut your boards for your frame.




I made my own frame for this so this is a super affordable, and makes a sizeable piece for an empty wall. I cut the two long boards at 86 in.  I cut 4 boards at 23in.  Get out your power tools ladies!!!  I bought 3 ceder boards at Lowe's because they are lighter and easy to staple.  The boards were 1x2x8.  So it only cost me $11.  I then centered the canvas and began stapling it on tight.  $20 and a little work in an afternoon and you have a personal, conversation piece that your children will all fight over when they are older.