Kids Silhouette Portrait Dollar Store Craft
VIDEO: DIY Kids Silhouette Portrait
Watch this tutorial below to make your own silhouette craft:
Video Transcript:
Supplies Needed
For this project, you will need: a dollar store seasonal door hanger board, chalk paint in ivory or white, black, brown, and gray, paint brushes, as well as a printer and pencil for making the silhouette.
I wanted to do a little something different for the background of my kids silhouette project. Dollar Tree carries these seasonal decor hangers – I have one from fall and one from Halloween, but I’ve seen them in stores during other times of the year as well. You can also use a canvas or unfinished wood board if you like.
Start by removing the hanger ribbon or twine. Then flip the board over so you are working with the unfinished side.
Painting the Board
Paint the whole board with a coat of brown chalk paint.
When the brown paint has dried, add a coat of ivory chalk paint using a dry brush. You want just a bit of the brown to poke through, since this is what will give your board the rustic wood look.
I also used a fine detail brush to paint the edges of my board as well, just to give it a more polished look.
Next, grab a straight edge and a pencil to draw the lines between your boards. I just used a clipboard, since that’s what I had handy. Don’t press down too hard on your straight edge, in case the paint on your board is still a bit tacky. You wouldn’t want to scratch it. Use a pencil to lightly draw horizontal lines between the boards. Then use a fine tip brush to lightly paint over the pencil line with black chalk paint. In order to get a more worn look, I took a larger dry brush and drug it over the black paint line while it was still wet.
Your Photo
Next up, you need your silhouette picture. Have your child stand facing to one side while you take their picture. Then make a few basic edits to get a clean black and white photo. Print out your photo at the right scale for your board.
Tracing Your Silhouette
Then you need to transfer the outline of this silhouette photo to the board. To do that, you will need a pen and pencil. Take a pencil and scribble back and forth across the back of the printer paper. You want to make sure the edge around your child’s head are covered really well in pencil. Then center the picture over your board and trace around the silhouette firmly with a pen. Be careful not to let the paper slip around. Work slowly and carefully until you have complete the entire outline of the silhouette.
The final part to trace will be the bottom of the silhouette. Instead of just drawing a straight line, try using a wavy line or curve instead. When you lift up the printer paper, there will be a faint pencil outline that has transferred over to the board.
Grab some black chalk paint and start to fill in the silhouette. I found it helpful to start by painting the edges with a skinny brush when needed, and then fill in using a wider brush and smooth horizontal strokes for a smooth finish.
Add a second coat of paint if you need to. Finish off the project by writing your child’s name and age with a fine-point permanent marker. You can also cover the back of your sign with Mod Podge and a sheet of craft paper to make it look more polished, but that’s it. Your silhouette is complete.
Kids Silhouette Portrait Craft
Yield:
2 Portraits
Active Time:
30 minutes
Additional Time:
1 hour
Total Time:
1 hour 30 minutes
Difficulty:
moderate
Estimated Cost:
$15
Watch this tutorial to see how to paint a kids silhouette portrait over a Dollar Tree seasonal decor hanger, using chalk paint.
Materials
- A dollar store seasonal door hanger board
- Chalk paint in ivory or white, black, brown, and gray
- Paint brushes
- A printer and pencil for making the silhouette
- Seasonal decor hangers (from the Dollar Tree) or a canvas or an unfinished wood board
Instructions
- Start by removing the hanger ribbon or twine. Then flip the board over so you are working with the unfinished side.
- Paint the whole board with a coat of brown chalk paint.
- When the brown paint has dried, add a coat of ivory chalk paint using a dry brush. You want just a bit of the brown to poke through, since this is what will give your board the rustic wood look.
- I also used a fine detail brush to paint the edges of my board as well, just to give it a more polished look.
- Grab a straight edge and a pencil to draw the lines between your boards. Don’t press down too hard on your straight edge, in case the paint on your board is still a bit tacky. You wouldn’t want to scratch it. Use a pencil to lightly draw horizontal lines between the boards. Then use a fine tip brush to lightly paint over the pencil line with black chalk paint.
- In order to get a more worn look, I took a larger dry brush and drug it over the black paint line while it was still wet.
- Next up, you need your silhouette picture. Have your child stand facing to one side while you take their picture. Then make a few basic edits to get a clean black and white photo. Print out your photo at the right scale for your board.
- Transfer the outline of this silhouette photo to the board. To do that, you will need a pen and pencil. Take a pencil and scribble back and forth across the back of the printer paper. You want to make sure the edge around your child’s head are covered really well in pencil. Then center the picture over your board and trace around the silhouette firmly with a pen. Be careful not to let the paper slip around. Work slowly and carefully until you have complete the entire outline of the silhouette.
- The final part to trace will be the bottom of the silhouette. Instead of just drawing a straight line, try using a wavy line or curve instead. When you lift up the printer paper, there will be a faint pencil outline that has transferred over to the board.
- Grab some black chalk paint and start to fill in the silhouette. I found it helpful to start by painting the edges with a skinny brush when needed, and then fill in using a wider brush and smooth horizontal strokes for a smooth finish.
- Add a second coat of paint if you need to. Finish off the project by writing your child’s name and age with a fine-point permanent marker. You can also cover the back of your sign with Mod Podge and a sheet of craft paper to make it look more polished, but that’s it. Your silhouette is complete.
What an interesting and easy to do project! You can create little pieces of art and hang them on the walls this way and no one would guess they’re made this way. Kids silhouette portraits can add so much interest to any space, for sure, so thank you for sharing!