Summer Pinterest Challenge: DIY Silhouette Painting

Hey there, friends!  :-)

Today I'm linking up with Young House Love for their Summer Pinterest Party -- a way to get all of us crafters and bloggers to actually complete one of the hundreds of crafts or projects we spend so much time pinning!  :-)

This party idea was dreamt up by Katie from Bower Power, so before I start in with the project that I completed, make sure you check out these great projects from the host bloggers!

Katie  --  Kate  --  Michelle  --  John and Sherry   

All righty -- here we go!

Last week, when I heard about this party, I consulted my DIY board on Pinterest and made a very careful decision.  Okay.  Not really.  I just picked the first thing that I had pinned, because, honestly, there was no way that I was going to be able to make a choice.  

Aubrey + Lindsay's Little House Blog

This is the picture that I originally saved, and I the reason I pinned it was not to follow the project's instructions, but to use it as a starting-off point.  Think of this as an *inspiration picture.*  :-)

I knew that I wanted this to be the beginning of our gallery wall, which is going on one of the {mostly bare} walls in our living room.  I thought this would be a cute idea to implement the two will-be standout colors for our living room (blue and green), and it also gives a sweet nod to my dear husband and I with the male and female silhouettes!  Perfect!

What You Need

Picture frame

Silhouette that you like printed from the internet

Watercolors

Paint brushes

Water

Pencil

Scissors

Now first thing's first -- put on those glasses!  You're going to need to see lots of detail!  ;-)

Cut the silhouettes out of the paper with ample paper still around them...

Like this!  This makes it easier to cut into the tiny details.  Slowly and carefully cut around the silhouettes.

For small details, like lips, noses, and inside-of-the-ponytail, I used small scissors from my self-manicure kit.  These worked great.

Arrange your silhouettes onto a sheet of nice, thick white paper (you are going to paint on it).  Then, trace.

Then, start painting!  It is best to try out your colors on a piece of scrap paper so you know you are getting the right shade if you are going to mix.  I wanted a darker blue and a medium green, so it took some tweaking.

Now, as you can see, on the male silhouette, I messed up!  I painted too much on his mouth (shaky hand); so here is where I improvised.  If you do this part correctly, you don't have to do what I did next.  

I cut out the silhouettes again.  

Then I sprayed them with a clear acrylic coating to give them a nice glossy look.

I mounted them onto a new sheet of nice paper with my scrapbooking adhesive strips -- very easy.

And then I framed it!

The extra mounting step is optional, but my husband did say it looks great to have it pop off the page a little bit.  ;-)

So there you have it!  My contribution to this month's Pinterest party, and the start of our gallery wall!  The fun has officially begun, people!

Total Cost: $12 (Frame- Target; Watercolors- Target) 

What do you think?

Have you created something you've pinned recently?  What was it?

love,

maria

Linking up!