Start of a gallery wall

I recently moved a family photo from our living room to the basement stairwell and thought that it looked too sparse. What better way to beef it up then to make it into a gallery wall. I have seen several gallery walls on blogs that I read and really like the look of them. I went to Goodwill looking for a few cheap frames to use in my gallery wall. I scored two large oval frames and an 8x10 square frame for $2.38 each. Immediately when I saw the oval frames, I thought of silhouettes, which I have also seen on several blogs.

I spray painted my frames silver to match the existing frame on my gallery wall. Then I took these silhouette pictures of my son and daughter.

I got my son while he was playing with his trains. I love how his mouth is slightly open.

Because I wanted to put my daughter's hair into a ponytail, it was more of a struggle to get her to cooperate. She was not very happy with me!
After printing the pictures at home on my computer, I simply cut away the background leaving only the silhouette. I traced the silhouette onto black scrapbook paper and cut it out. I also cut a piece of white scrapbook paper to fit over the frame back. I attached the white paper to the frame back and then attached the black silhouette approximately in the middle. After cleaning the glass, I reassembled the frames and admired my little cuties.

I proudly showed my husband my newest creation and his first thoughts were, "My grandma had some of those at her house. I never thought they were that cool."
Despite my husband's lack of enthusiasm, I love my silhouettes! I added them to my gallery wall, which I can now officially call a gallery wall because there is more than one photo on it, and I love it!

I plan to add to it as I find frames. I would also like to add some vinyl monograms or quotes. Finally, I envision moulding like Decor Chick's to beef up our small hand railing. I can see it all finished in my head and I love it!