Silhouette Wall

I just finished decorating the wall above my piano with things near and dear to my heart: my family, the house of worship where Ben and I were married, meaningful words of inspiration, and the children's hymns my children and I have grown to love.

I used my super easy silhouette making tutorial to make silhouettes of my family. The exception being the mother and child on the lower right corner. That's an image I found online that I'm using as a placeholder until Baby Girl joins the world and I can make a proper silhouette of her sweet chubby cheeks.

I still haven't taken the camera class to learn how to use my DSLR, so please pardon the photography.

Behold hottie hubs. Using bookprint for artwork is fairly popular now. When I told Ben I wanted to pick up on that trend, though instead of using generic bookprint, mount the silhouettes over a background of text from our faith, Ben chose this document: The Living Christ.

I printed three copies of the document onto aged-looking paper, then collaged pieces together to form the background.

I chose The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

Since my posture looks terrible here, this silhouette is also a placeholder. Whenever I sat up straight, Ben (playing photographer) said I looked like I had a double chin. Maybe after I lose some baby weight off my face I can try again with better posture. I also think I'll replace this frame with an oval-shape frame whenever I find one the right size so there aren't so many straight edges on the wall.

Here's Brighton (with impeccable posture, by the way). All three of the children's silhouettes are mounted onto sheet music. For each child's picture, I chose one of our favorite children's hymns, scaled down the sheet music a bit, printed three copies of the song onto aged-looking paper, then collaged the print-outs just as I did for the silhouettes of Ben and me.

Brighton's silhouette is mounted onto the sheet music for I Love to See the Temple.

Behind Lincoln's silhouette is the music to Families Can Be Together Forever.

And behind Baby Girl's placeholder is I Am a Child of God.

Central to the wall is the Atlanta LDS temple, where Ben and I were married. I ordered the photo from Altus Photo Design. The Atlanta temple is short and wide and is typically photographed with a landscape orientation. I needed portrait to fit my wall, and the owner of Altus Photo Design worked with me to find an attractive portrait orientation that worked for my frame.

The Atlanta temple has recently been renovated and is open for public tours April 9 - 23, 2011, except for Sundays and Monday evenings. My mom and stepdad are volunteering as tour guides. If you tell my mom I sent you, she'll probably invite you over for dinner. She's just like that. :) Anyway, tours are free, though reservations are suggested and can be made by calling 1-866-537-8457. Feel free to read more about my faith here, or why Mormons build temples here.