Are you familiar with silhouette artist Carter Kustera? He’s done some pretty stellar work (um, hello, Jonathan Adler & Simon Doonan — quite possibly my most favorite Pin ever) and is famous for his colorful spin on the classic silhouette portrait. Growing up, we had those hand-cut black paper silhouettes hanging in the hallway in little oval frames but they feel a little, well, old-fashioned. And for good reason since the practice dates back to the mid-1700s (see an interesting history of the handcut silhouette here). But what Carter brings to the table is a strong graphic sensibility with a touch of cheek, and of course a fantastic pop of color.

I sent him a couple of current photos of Jude and Archer (although I am DYING now to do an entire wall with our whole family – look at this pin!) as well as the custom Benjamin Moore colors I was interested in. The taglines took me a little longer to write, but I love the sketchy handwritten quality that they bring to those crisp, clean silhouettes.

But it’s that little ruffle of hair on the top of Jude’s head that I love the most. 

And! Happy news – Carter and I have teamed up to give away a custom silhouette portrait to a lucky Pencil Shavings Studio reader. Follow Carter Kustera and Instagram any one of the images from this post (or regram the original image here) and be sure to tag both Carter and Pencil Shavings.

Good luck! Giveaway closes Wednesday.