Modern Dog Silhouettes

If you don't know me well already, you're probably going to gather soon that I'm a pretty classic person when it comes to design.  Classic, with a modern/contemporary twist.  Plus, I love our dogs!  They're our fur-babies, as I've heard the term used.  :)

We've got two goof balls: Gunner, he's almost 3- he's a chocolate cocker spaniel.  And, the baby, Lexi, who's just over 8 months old, and is a Boxer Labrador mix.  Yep.  That's right, she's a Boxador.  :)

I love the clean lines I've seen in some great silhouette artwork floating around, and I really wanted my own!  I toyed with some different options tonight, but finally came up with this:

I have seen lots of great displays online and in blogland.  Here were some of my inspirations:

YoungHouseLove, Burger's Silhouette (their suave chihuahua)

LivingwithLindsay, children's Silhouette (both etched glass and traditional black and white!  Swoon!  Oh, and that book wreath will be mine this weekend too, just you wait.  I have all the supplies ready!)

Silhouette displays, via google

(How cool would these be?!  I may make some too, or you can, and share your creations with me!)

These were pretty easy to make, and again, I'm staring at them, just enjoying them!

Materials I used:

Printed profile shots (of my cutie doggies, as mentioned above...)
2, 11x17" picture frames with a double mat, and shadow box style
1 peice of scrapbook paper enough to cut two 5.5x7.5" rectangles for backing
thin foam sheet, in black
tacky glue, scissors, tape, pencil (and eraser potentially!), Windex

I first cut out the two head shot profiles of my dogs.  I had printed these on the black and white printer, on regular paper.  I didn't bother doing the whole "tracing with a backlight" issue, because, well, it's nighttime here, and again, I'm impatient and wanted to do this tonight.  (NOTE: another thing you'll learn about me- I'm impatient once I get an idea in my head.  I'm dealing with it.  You'll be fine.  :)  )  I made sure after I cut them out that they fit right on the yellow sheets I already cut to size.

I made sure to use some sharp scisors to really make sure the detail around the edge was sharp as these were going to become my patterns traced onto the black foam sheet.

Next, trace with a pencil.  If you're using black foam sheets, I'd suggest to use something you can really see on the sheet, like a white pencil.  My regular lead pencil was difficult to see the lines, and I had to hold it up at the right angle under the kitchen light to see my traced line.   I'll pretend now that this reason for using the foam was my reason originally: if I want to change the paper their silhouettes are mounted on I can easily, since the paper should peel right off!  (The real reason I used the foam?  I was out of construction paper (plus that discolors) and I didn't have anything else black.  The texture works though, so it's a win win... yay!)

Anyway.  I cut both shapes out, and had already taped the scrapbook paper I cut into 5.5x7.5" rectangles to the back of the picture frame's mat.  Then, I used tacky glue and glued down all the edges, and center, since this is in a shadow box type frame.  I didn't want any lifting!  I get enough greif from the dogs themselves, I didn't need it from my artwork too.  :)

 

(doesn't that texture of the foam look so great?!  I love that I thought of that!  Sense the sarcasm.  I'll just warn you once!)

I cleaned the glass really well the first time after I tried to mat it for the first time and found a whole bunch of glitter, and other particles attached to my white mat.  Save yourself the headache and just clean thoroughly the first time. 

Hang, and pat yourself on the back!

 

(did you notice my tinsel trees?  :) see this post for how I did those)

 

 

Total cost, uh, hard to say.  I had all the material already.  I think the frames were $6 each on clearance at BedBath&Beyond, and they've been tucked away safely with the rest of my boxes of frames in the garage for a few months years.  I always like to buy things on clearance, if they're a classic peice I know I'll be able to use somehwere.  Don't judge. 

What are your favorite photo displays?  Do you like to update classic peices in a modern way?  Do share!