Easy, No-Cost Cameo Silhouette Tutorial

The Silhouette or Profile type art-work has become quite popular in recent years. However, this concept is certainly not new by any standards. It was introduced centuries ago and was most commonly found in homes of the Victorian Era.  I happen to love the classic, vintage appeal of the cameo and set out to make a few of my own using only supplies I already owned and a little imagination. The total cost of this fun, easy project was: $0 dollars.

Here are the easy to follow steps I took along with pictures documenting the process:

1.Supplies:  Paper (You'll want solid colored paper to make sure the silhouette contrasts against whatever background you lay it against. I looked through my craft box and found two black envelopes of a high-quality paper along with some dotted blank cards and damask card stock,  I decided I  would make these work for me:) You'll also need your PC, a Printer, Scissors and some type of light Adhesive, (I happen to have left-over glue dots on hand.) Finally a Frame to display the artwork in (I already had three ornate frames on hand formerly displaying some patterned animal print paper.)

(pardon the quality of the images, all taken with my Blackberry)

2. Once your supplies are set out. The next step is to use your best digital friend - Mr.Google. I googled  for: "Cameo Silhouette", "Victorian Silhouette" and "Lady Silhouette" until I found an image that suited my taste. Something like this would work: 

3. Copy and paste image onto a Word Document. Adjust image size to desired length and width using Format Image option when you right-click. Then print image.

4. Cut out the silhouette carefully as this will be used as master stencil. I then began tracing the silhouette onto my black paper envelope which I removed the seams from to make it larger,and also onto the dotted card stock and carefully cut them out as so:

4. Once you have your silhouettes cut out you want to make sure to select the background using a contrasting   paper so that the silhouette form stands out. I then cut out the background paper to the scale of the frames. The final step was to adhere the silhouette onto the background paper and put them in frames like so:

5.  As and added step for me, I decided to change the look of the frames as well.  Using a little bit of left-over paint, I aged these frames with an antique blue finish to coordinate with some fresh new decor changes I made to  Chateau C'est La Vie for the Spring and Summer seasons:

Stay tuned for the full reveal of Chateau C'est La Vie updates  as well as a tutorial on no-sew, and no-cost throw pillows, coming soon!