Our "Baby Safe" Nativity Scene

We struggled at Christmas last year to find a place for our Nativity Scene that was visible, but out of reach of our daughter.  She was 10 months old last Christmas, and this year she will be 22 months!  Hard to believe she is almost 2, but that is a whole different subject! 
We decided to put the Nativity Scene in a bookcase upstairs, so that it stays safe, but I really wanted something to display the reason we celebrate Christmas downstairs as well!  I was browsing the fabulous world of pinterest, of course, and I found an idea that I fell in love with!  A hanging "silhouette nativity"... completely baby proof!!  I immediately started trying to think of ways that I could make this happen in our house!  I had a pack of vellum paper in my scrapbook arsenal, so I whipped it out.  The vellum paper is 8.5"x11", so it goes through the printer VERY easily.  I found a website with 3 nativity silhouette images, which were pretty perfect!   I put the images in a WORD document and sized them evenly.  I made each picture 7" tall, so that there would be room in between the picture and the top of the frame mat. I printed the images out on vellum and laid them out to dry over night.  Vellum doesn't absorb ink like paper does, so it took a while for the images to dry completely. 

I had to put weight on the corners because the amount of ink on the paper made it curl up slightly.

I found some great frames at Michael's that were on sale for $4.99 each!!!

I purchased green "linen" scrapbook paper that was on sale $.16 per sheet!

I cut the paper down to the size of the vellum paper, lined it up, and taped it together!

The green behind the vellum is VERY faint in the frame, but it looks great!

I laid the paper in the frame and taped it to the mat.

This way the image didn't move or unalign itself after putting the frame back together!

I put tape on all 4 sides, to help keep the image flat.

I stapled fabric ribbon to the frame backing above the hanging hardware.

This way the picture can look like it is hanging by ribbon, but is securely on the wall with a nail!

Finally, I measured the wall, and found the center.  I hung the first picture in the middle of the wall, and hung the outside pictures at equal distances from the center picture.  I tacked the ribbon to the wall,  and made a small bow to finish the look.

I absolutely love the final product!  I think it looks great, and it is a perfect way to keep in kind why we celebrate Christmas!

Frames - 3 @ $4.99 each

Paper - 3 @ $.16 each

I already had the ribbon and vellum...

Total Cost $15.50

 - Jessica