Make your own family silhouettes

I confess. My motivation for writing this post is a bit selfish. It’s part of my research. My husband’s birthday is 10 days away and my budget is tight. He’s a simple man who doesn’t want or ask for much (Thank goodness one of us is!). Case in point, just this morning, while dressing for church, my daughter said to him, “Dad! That’s the same shirt you wore to your wedding rehearsal! I saw it in the photo album last night!” Busted. And yes, that was almost 11 years ago.

But this year, besides buying him a new button-down for Sunday mornings, I plan to finally deal with one of the things he’s been asking me to do for quite a few years. It’s time to update, and add to, our family’s portraits.

I’m not talking about photographic portraits. The kind I really love are silhouettes. The ones I did years ago sit at the top of our steps and are so outdated that my daughter, who was six months old when I originally did them, walks by and says, “Who’s that boy in that picture frame?” She’s four now, and has hair. And there’s even one more babe in our family to make room for on the wall. We are well overdue for an update.

So in preparation for my week of crafting ahead, here is some silhouette inspiration catching my eye:

*Step-by-step instructions to create silhouettes digitally, with amazing detail from craftastica.

*Simple steps to create traditional silhouettes cut from paper on modern day moms.

*Beautiful family portraits on fabric (don’t forget the family pet!) from habit of art.

*Don’t want to do it yourself? Le Papier Studio creates a custom family portrait, even these unique full-body silhouettes from a favorite photograph.

How does your family mark the passing of time as your family grows and changes? Do you create silhouettes? Yearly hand-prints? Do you have a portrait taken each year? Or are you like me–outdated and behind in this department?

{About Molly, our Education + Learning blogger: She’s a homeschool mom of four and freelance writer that lives in a fixer-upper farmhouse in rural Maryland. You can find her at her blog Mommy Coddle, and on twitter as MommyCoddle}