DIY Vintage Stocking Tags with Silhouette Portraits

It was just a few years ago that I made these DIY stocking tags out of yarn and cardboard, and I still love them.

But I was craving a little something more traditional in my holiday decor this year. So I decided to try my hand at making some DIY vintage stocking tags using the cutest mini gold frames and Silhouette pictures of our family. 

This stocking tags tutorial contains affiliate links, but nothing that I wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend anyway! Read my full disclosure here.

Step 1. Take your Silhouette profile pictures

On your smartphone, take a photo of each family member standing sideways against a plain background so you get a clear profile picture. We used a wall in our home. 

Tip: Make sure everyone’s hair is done or at least any weird pieces aren’t sticking up. I ended up having to edit my son’s head quite a bit because he had “bed head” with a bunch of hair sticking straight up in the back.

Also, I didn’t notice until after we were all done, but Logan had a bump on the top of his hair because he had just gotten done wearing headphones! 

Step 2. Edit pictures in Canva

I found it was pretty easy to quickly edit the photos using Canva to get a Silhouette portrait.

Here are the easy steps I followed & the settings I used to create the perfect black Silhouette picture: 

• Upload photo
• Remove background 
• Click “edit” 
• Open the “adjust” tab (on left column)
• Turn Brightness down to -100
• Turn Contrast up to 100 
• Turn Highlights down to -100
• Turn Shadows down to -100
• Turn Whites down to -100
• Turn Blacks up to 100

If necessary, you can manually remove anything you need or clean up the edges of someone’s silhouette by clicking the Remove Background button again, and you’ll get a brush that you can erase an area on the image. 

Export everything from Canva as a JPG and save it on your computer. 

Step 3. Print pictures

Send your pictures to your printer to test the size first. I first tried to print mine all as “Wallet” size images on one sheet of paper and discovered that it was just a little too big for my frames.

So after testing and playing around with it a bit, I printed them at roughly 75-80% scale from Wallet size. You should be able to find the scaling options under “Printer Properties”. 

Once you get the size figured out, print them on cardstock paper. I used a light cream color that I had on hand. 

Step 4. Attach pictures

Next, you can cut them out with scissors and attach your printed pictures to the back of your mini frames with tape. 

Step 5. Add a hanger

Using some ribbon and a hot glue gun, add a hanger to the top of your mini frame on the back. I used about 8 inches of red velvet ribbon to create each hanger. 

Step 6. Attach to your Christmas stockings

The last step is to add each tag to your holiday stockings! These are just adorable and fit in so well with the classic Christmas look I am going for here. 

If you didn’t want to use them as stocking name tags, they would also make beautiful ornaments or even gift tags! 

Either way, these Christmas stocking tags are a perfect addition to our Christmas decor this year!