Canine Inspiration

Dog Silhouettes

I have been reading a blog called Epoch Elly, and she recently talked all about how vintage inspired silhouettes are making a come-back in today's design. I am not a designer, and barely manage to have 75% of my house decorated, but when I see an idea that I like and that I think I can recreate..... well, darn it, I re-create it!!!

Here is how I made my dog silhouette art:

1. Find a picture and make a silhouette out of it. You can use one of your own, or search online like I did. I found a silhouette of each breed of dog that I own, and projected it on paper in my classroom. Then I traced it.

2. Next you cut out that tracing so that you have a tracer to work with on the color of paper that you ultimately want to use.

3. Trace this silhouette on the color of cardstock/scrapbook paper that you will want to use in the end. I went back and forth on the idea of having the decorative paper as the actual silhouette, or the decorative paper as the 'matting' around the silhouette. I even bought extra paper so I could try both. I ended up wanting the actual silhouette itself to be darker and defined. I went with a rich chocolately brown which can be found all over my house.

4. Cut out the background paper to fit the frame window. I used an 8 X 10 frame that I found at my 2nd home.... oops, I mean Hobby Lobby!!

5. Place the silhouette on the background, and then put it all in the frame. You are done!! All in all, it took me about an hour. Not bad!

Here is a finished product! This one is Bailey, my basset hound mix.

At the top, you can see all three of my puppies' silhouettes, Texas a Great Dane, Bailey the Basset mix, and Sophie the chihuahua. I will hang them all together somewhere.....