Nothing makes the one you love feel more special than a unique, customized gift. MY M&M’S let’s you do just that!  This Valentine’s Day, I am creating a special gift for my husband from our own little M&Ms, featuring MY M&M’S with silhouettes of the kids and framed portraits to match.  Learn how to make a silhouette portrait for your Valentine and add it to your custom MY M&M’S.

My Sweet Story

When you take your Yankee husband home to get married in Texas, you can bet there will be mariachis and cowboy boots.  And if both your names begin with ‘M’, you can also bet there will be MY M&M’S! MY M&M’S allow you to customize the world’s most loved chocolate, with color selection, printed images and messages, to make any special occasion sweeter.  For our wedding back in 2008, we ordered MY M&M’S to match our wedding colors, with our monogram and wedding date.

Fast forward a few years.  We announced we were expecting our first child – our very own little M&M, as friends and family began to call her.   And now, it’s hard to believe we have three: Big M (age 4), Lil’ M (age2) and Baby M (4 months)!  This Valentine’s Day, I wanted to give my husband something special from our M&Ms.  And what could be more special, or fitting, than MY M&M’S featuring silhouettes of our Ms!

How to Make Silhouette Portraits

To create my custom MY M&M’S, first I had to create the silhouette portraits.  There are many tutorials to do so using Photoshop, but most of us don’t have it or know how to use it.  I created these using the photo editing capabilities in PowerPoint!

1. Take a profile picture of your child against a blank background; the lighter or higher contrast the background, the better.  This is the hardest part!  Have you ever tried to take a picture of your toddler and they refuse to look at the camera?  Guess what happens when you tell them NOT to look at the camera! Upload the photo to your computer and insert it into a blank PowerPoint slide.

2. Select Format tools.  Then, Remove Background.  Mark areas to keep and remove until you have your desired profile.  The higher contrast background you take your photo against, the easier and more automated this part will be.  When you are done, click Keep Changes.

3. Once you have your outlined silhouette, now we need to make it a solid color.  Within Format tools, click Corrections, and choose the darkest, least contrast option (Brightness -40%, Contrast -40%) from the lower left corner.

 4. Finally, we will make the profile a true silhouette.  From Format tools, select Color and choose Black & White from the Recolor options.

5. OPTIONAL: If you would like to change the color of your silhouette, right click and Save file as… a PNG file.  This will save the silhouette as an image with no background.  Re-insert it on a new PowerPoint slide and repeat Step 4, only choose a color from the bottom row, or click More Variations for additional color choices.

I selected my colors, uploaded my silhouette portraits, and added my custom message to make MY M&M’S.  I also printed each of the portraits out in gray, and added them to a frame to hang in our family room.  A perfect Valentine gift for my husband from our M&Ms.

MY M&M’S Inspiration Gallery

For more awesome Valentine gift ideas for the one you love, be sure to visit the MY M&M’S Inspiration Gallery.  It is full of recipes, DIY projects and fun presentations to help you deliver the perfect, customized gift for Valentine’s Day.

[bctt tweet=”Make your #ValentinesDay sweeter with @MyMMscom #MySweetStory “]

Have you ever ordered MY M&M’S before?  What was the occasion?  They definitely make a fun, personal touch for holidays, parties and special occasions.  If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy Custom Photo Coasters.  You can find both of these, and all our favorites from around the web on our Gift Ideas board on Pinterest.

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.