they say it's your birthday.

in true embee fashion, i started a craft about 2 weeks ago and just got around to finishing it. i do that far too often.

i've seen cute kid silhouettes all over pinterest but i've never had kids who would sit still long enough for me to take the right photograph until now. can you believe that my nursery school teacher created silhouettes of us for our parents by having us sit still with a light aimed at us, and she would trace our shadow - crazypants. ain't nobody got time for that.

the basic concept is this: you take a photo of your kid, and depending upon your tutorial, you blacken the image of your kid, and bam! you put it in a frame. i don't like to do things that simple.

truthfully, i saw plain unfinished wooden plaques in walmart and remembered that i wanted to make silhouettes. i also remembered that hey, i have kids that might sit still now. armed with some candy and my camera, i took a picture of each kid sitting in profile view. my plaques were something like 6" so i cropped and sized my image in photoshop and then printed it out. i taped the image onto the plaque where i'd like the silhouette to sit. then, taking a ballpoint pen, i traced around each kid's silhouette, pressing hard enough to leave an imprint in the wood. i went over a few times to get enough of an imprint. be careful you don't rip the paper and actually write on the wood, though. 

3-13-3, a photo by sassyladybug on Flickr.

then it was time for me to stain the wood. i'd never done it before, but it was really quite simple. the only note is that by using a darker stain, you are less likely to see your imprint in the wood. but really, all i had to do was angle it correctly so that the light hit it and i was able to see the imprint.

3-13-4, a photo by sassyladybug on Flickr.

let the stain dry for a while.  you might be impatient like me.  so put on the kettle get yourself a cup of tea and watch paint stain dry. this step is mandatory.

3-13-5, a photo by sassyladybug on Flickr.

then i took white acrylic craft paint and painted inside my imprint. it took about 3 coats.

3-13-6, a photo by sassyladybug on Flickr.

i let it dry for a few hours and it was ready to go. i love how the grain of the wood shows through.

3-13-7, a photo by sassyladybug on Flickr.

now the only question is where to hang them? i originally planned to put them in the boys' room but now i love them so much that i'd like to see them out in the open. so to celebrate my birthday this past sunday and my return back to blogging, i'd love to give one of these away. the winner will need to send me a picture - it can be your kid, dog, husband, whatever.  please leave a comment on this post to enter. you can simply tell me how fabulous i am. i'll close the contest on friday at noon and announce the winner.