by Kimberly Funk

Created on: October 15, 2007

Using silhouettes is a great way to add unique accents to your scrapbooking pages and hand made cards. The word silhouette means an object in its simplest form so the possibilities are endless. Your child may bring home a silhouette that his teacher traced for him during his unit in shadows, but as a scrapper, you may find that using store bought silhouettes will be fun as well.

For the traditional handmade silhouette, follow these easy steps:

1. Choose a paper color of your choice, making sure that it's archival safe if you will be using it with pictures and tape it to a wall or attach it to an easel.
2. Point a light in the direction of the paper, so that it will cause a shadow.
3. Have the person stand in between the paper and the light in order to cause a shadow on the paper. (Or try this with a small hand or foot).
4. Trace it in pencil.
5. Cut it out.
(Tip: if you are working with a young child, an extra set of hands to keep the child in position will be most helpful.)

If you're looking for a non-traditional silhouette, there are many options for you as well. Rubberstamp companies create adorable silhouette stamps to use and many scrapbooking companies are creating blacked out silhouette overlays and stickers that make use very easy.

Here are two great ideas for using silhouettes:

1. Create invitations, greeting cards, or stationery. We've all seen adorable works of art with hand-stamped "prints", so why not try the same thing with a small hand or foot silhouette. These silhouettes would be great for birth announcements, first birthday party invitations, thank you notes, or stationery. Get your kids in on the action and allow them to help create greeting cards a simple and fun way to be creative. They may even want to do some of the tracing!
2. Design an adorable and unique scrapbooking page by using silhouettes as simple embellishments or photo corners. Try creating multiple silhouettes and placing them at different angles down your page for a great looking border. Alternatively, use one of the pre-made overlays to have fun running along the bottom of a two-page layout.

Here are a few web pages to look at. Brainy Betty has a nice selection of Silhouette Graphics at http://www.brainybetty.com/scrapbooking_silhouettes. htm and Stampendous shows an adorable scrapbooking page created with their "Kitty Silhouettes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set" at http://www.stampendous.com/projectsfdr/pjkittysilhou ettesb.html.

Whether you create your own or buy them, using silhouettes is a great way to add fun to your scrapbooking and card making projects. Enjoy!

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