My dear friend Charlotte is expecting and she wanted to announce the news to her family in a special way. She comes from a family of four girls that has grown even larger with her nieces and nephews. A couple of years ago I'd seen a silhouette family tree announcing a new baby, and I thought it was such a great idea--especially for a big family. So we decided on a family tree of silhouettes to show the whole crew and introduce the newest member-to-come.
She sent me profile shots she had taken over the holidays of every member of the family. The children were posed, but several of the adults' were candid (read: surprise) shots.
Using Photoshop, I removed the background from each picture and did a rough clip of the face. Then using Illustrator I finished and smoothed the silhouette.
For her parents' card, I arranged all of the silhouettes together with the new baby in white to stand out. Charlotte knew her mother would spend time studying each of the pictures and she wanted the new baby to be immediately obvious.
For her sisters' cards, we used an accordion fold card with the definition of aunt on the front.
The inside of the card was a timeline with each of the nieces and nephews in the order of birth. Their names and birthdays were above/below each silhouette (blurred out here for privacy). The final panel announced the newest addition.
I think it turned out really well and it was so much fun to do. Of course I'm thrilled for Charlotte and was happy to have a tiny part in the excitement.
This is the coolest thing EVER! Do you think you can make silhouettes for me too? Not for announcing a birth, but wouldn't that be a neat item to include in a baby book (which have yet to be created to LB and LC!!)