How to paint a deer silhouette….

I am so excited to be  a part of state pride tour  with 30 other amazing bloggers hosted by Infarrantly Creative!

Welcome if you are coming over from Just a Girl!

I am totally proud of my state! The great state of Illinois is the Land of Lincoln,corn,construction and cows!

It’s also the land to the White-tailed Deer! As an homage to the  state animal that almost took me and hubby out last summer on the way back from a wedding last year(It not only took off our side mirror,but scratched our windshield with it’s hooves, and scared the pee out of both of us.);I thought an easy deer silhouette was the perfect project.  And it’s perfect for fall and winter decor!

Just like painting your own pumpkin!

It’s easier than you think. I actually had a few vintage Illinois maps of rural areas from the 1870’s that I used as  background.I copied them so I didn’t have to use the original.You never know when I am going to need another copy of Western Mound, IL.

You’ll need

–a canvas or piece of wood. I just used a culled piece from another project. It measures about 11 x 13 inches

-matte decoupage medium

-a background  piece like scrapbook paper or a vintage map(I have the printable for you at the end)

-Your silhouette(printable at the end.)

-2 brushes, a thin one for lining and a fatter one for filling

-acrylic paint of color choice

-distress ink

Start by decoupaging your background onto your canvas or wood piece.Here’s a decoupage tutorial here

Once your wood is decoupaged, and dried, you can transfer your deer image. I have the actual silhouette for you at the bottom so you don’t have to do all that searching.

I traced around it so the image was more clearly defined when I  transfer it.

I didn’t have any transfer paper so I used the good old rub the back of the paper with a pencil technique.

Position it where you want it on your background, and press firmly to transfer the pencil to the decoupaged surface.

Once it’s transferred, you can start painting in the outline with your acrylic paint.

I used a wider brush to fill in the body.

Then I took the distress ink and darkened the edges of the board .

I had this cute, little deer in my craft room that I thought it looked perfect  next to the art piece.

I think it’s a great silhouette because I can keep it up all through the new year!

Here are the printables below if you want to do the project yourself.

Just right click and copy.

Just enlarge the deer print to the size you want.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Next you can head over to Amanda’s she lives in my neighbor state of Wisconsin!!! If you missed any of the states, you can start here are Infarrantly Creative!

If you’re feeling creative this holiday season, consider signing up for the Creatively Made home e-course {Home for the Holidays}

and stop by and see my Fall Home decor in the Finding Fall Home Tour with Better Homes and Gardens!