Silhouettes

Have I ever told you about the silhouettes I have? I think not since after this post so many of you asked about them. I'm not sure if it's just a southern thing but round these parts, us mom have silhouettes done of our children. If we are rich or have rich parents, we have an oil painting commissioned as well. So I've heard.

A few years ago, Lena Bengtson was coming to a local children's shop. You had to book your appointment way in advance if you wanted an appointment. I was never able to get one, always calling too late and she was booked. She is like a real, live silhouette arteest. And I wanted her...bad. This is taken straight from her website:

A degree in fine art with an emphasis in portrait painting has given Lena the skill needed to capture an exact likeness. The detailed cuttings are done in the European embellished style. Lena has cut silhouettes in 15 states and 3 European countries.

This is not your preschool overhead projector silhouette. I wanted to have my boy's profile captured by Lena and I was lucky enough to secure an appointment this time.

Little did I know that a month or two later when our day had arrived I would have a decision to make. The business that my husband had bought was not going well. At all. So, I could use what little cash we had to pay for these frivolous, unnecessary works of art or skip the sitting. Now all you Dave Ramsey Gazelle intense folks don't get all crazy on me but, I chose to use our cash for the silhouettes. I took that $54 out of our grocery money and lived to tell about it. At least I knew enough not to put it on a credit card.
My boys sat for Lena and she was wonderful. Y'all, she sits with a pair of scissors and black paper and just stares at the child and cuts! No tracing, no drawing--just cutting without hardly even looking at the paper! It only took 7-8 minutes and the boys simply looked at books.
It was the right decision for me. I have not regretted having spent that money on those precious works of art. There are some things in life that you only have one chance to capture.
Now, if you have the funds, you can go to Lena's website and find out about submitting a photo and she can create a silhouette for you. They are SO detailed! Or, you can do what Linda or Molly or Leah did and make them yourself--but no matter what, consider having silhouettes made of your children, you will not regret it!

• I shared what I compromised my grocery money for. Do you have something unnecessary that is so important to you that you would sabotage your grocery budget? Fess up, I know you do.
• Amanda Gamboa--will you please contact me?
• Go check out the Moms Unite Holiday Directory at Kimba's place! Support real moms, not robots! It's not too late to be added to the list!