The papers I used for these tiles were from our family craft day mixed media madness for Valentine's Day; hence, the pinks. Since I knew what I was doing this time, it went much quicker than the first one. I love that a little bit of all our family is in this.
I also added a few charms and collage elements to some of the tiles this time. It seemed to need something extra. Am liking these "tiles" and may branch out to another substrate.
The IKEA tiled mirror is complete! Finished it last night. Because the tiles aren't 100% uniform, and the spacing is tricky, it's not perfectly aligned. But I like the look. It looks modern, without being standardized.
I did have to go back and paint the edges of the foamboard black--that was tedious. And then also needed to tack up a few of the corners; that shiny tagboard surface doesn't take the gel medium real well. It would have been easier to go buy black tiles ready-made, but what's the wonder of that?
Stay tuned for the next mirror adventure. I DID buy 8 of them!
Here's the IKEA mirror, in black. I bought 8 of these yesterday--my first trip to IKEA. What an experience THAT was! Now that I have experience with the "maze," I plan to return and look around a little more.
And here are the 32 "tiles" I cut out of foamboard. Someone had told me that they measured 1 1/2 inches square, so that's how I originally cut them. I measured, drew lines, and scored with my craft knife. And then I went back and evened out some of the edges, since some looked different after I turned them over....After painstakingly cutting them, I laid them out on the mirror and discovered--oh no!--too large. So then I guessed at 1 1/4 inches--and yes, that's the correct amount. So I trimmed every single tile (all 36 that I had originally cut). Actually went kinda fast though--I was so mad at having to redo each tile that my cuts were swift and hard!
So here's how the blank tiles look laid out on the mirror. A little sloppy, but hopefully the finished piece will look a bit more precise in spacing. But this seems to be the correct layout--6 across, 2 on each side. The spacing isn't exact between them all, even when neatly laid out.
THEN--on to deciding my color scheme. I've been into turquoise and lime green for months now, so I decided to go with that, adding various shades of blues and citrons and greens. Went through my stash of "play" papers and auditioned them for the mirror. I had more than enough! No surprise there....
So these are some of those papers, cut down a bit. Now I need to decide whether to cut and then glue, or glue and then cut. I favor the latter, since I'm not real precise in my measurements. Will probably use gel medium. I'll also need to decide how to handle the edges of the "tiles." All this can wait til tomorrow--or perhaps Monday.
Here are the Valentine ATC's I made today. Some of these don't look much like Valentines; they're more subtle. Used the same background for all--it was the Artist Sheet in the latest Somerset Studios. I usually tear those out and then never use them, but I really liked the colors and patterns in this one. Make sure you click on the photos to enlarge.
The unifying theme in all of these ATC's was the Paris "postmark" stamp. While I was at it, I cut up a lot more blanks for ATC's so I'll have them ready when the mood strikes (tomorrow?!). I also have an ATC stamp for the back that includes name, date, etc., so they're all stamped and ready for future fun. I just love Valentine's Day--any day that celebrates love is great in my book. And it doesn't have to be romantic love, either. Love is the most powerful force in this Universe. And I do celebrate it.
Today I decided to make some ATC's for Valentine's Day. I've been wanting to make some ATC's for awhile now, and I'm happy to be beginning them. I will mail them out to some of my artist friends. Here are the cards with various backgrounds; nearly all of these are my own papers. Some are painted tissue papers, some are copies of collages, some are baby wipes that have soaked up fluid acrylics.
And here is my personal challenge--to incorporate one of these words from a booklet of red paint samples. Some are names and numbers of paint colors. I always like to give myself a little challenge like this. It adds a fun element and it also gives some continuity to the cards. Tomorrow I will finish them up!
The papers I used for these tiles were from our family craft day mixed media madness for Valentine's Day; hence, the pinks. Since I knew what I was doing this time, it went much quicker than the first one. I love that a little bit of all our family is in this. 
I also added a few charms and collage elements to some of the tiles this time. It seemed to need something extra. Am liking these "tiles" and may branch out to another substrate.
The IKEA tiled mirror is complete! Finished it last night. Because the tiles aren't 100% uniform, and the spacing is tricky, it's not perfectly aligned. But I like the look. It looks modern, without being standardized.
I did have to go back and paint the edges of the foamboard black--that was tedious. And then also needed to tack up a few of the corners; that shiny tagboard surface doesn't take the gel medium real well. It would have been easier to go buy black tiles ready-made, but what's the wonder of that? 
Here's the IKEA mirror, in black. I bought 8 of these yesterday--my first trip to IKEA. What an experience THAT was! Now that I have experience with the "maze," I plan to return and look around a little more.
And here are the 32 "tiles" I cut out of foamboard. Someone had told me that they measured 1 1/2 inches square, so that's how I originally cut them. I measured, drew lines, and scored with my craft knife. And then I went back and evened out some of the edges, since some looked different after I turned them over....After painstakingly cutting them, I laid them out on the mirror and discovered--oh no!--too large. So then I guessed at 1 1/4 inches--and yes, that's the correct amount. So I trimmed every single tile (all 36 that I had originally cut). Actually went kinda fast though--I was so mad at having to redo each tile that my cuts were swift and hard!
So here's how the blank tiles look laid out on the mirror. A little sloppy, but hopefully the finished piece will look a bit more precise in spacing. But this seems to be the correct layout--6 across, 2 on each side. The spacing isn't exact between them all, even when neatly laid out.
THEN--on to deciding my color scheme. I've been into turquoise and lime green for months now, so I decided to go with that, adding various shades of blues and citrons and greens. Went through my stash of "play" papers and auditioned them for the mirror. I had more than enough! No surprise there....
Here is one of 4 collages I completed today. They are each 4 X 6, and fit in a frame together. It's called Garden Isle because it reminds me of the colors and textures and feel of Kauai.
The strips of fabric on each collage are from material I bought while in Hawaii. I didn't know how I would use the fabric when I bought it; I just knew that it made me happy to look at it.
The collages were done using the Jonathon Talbot method I learned from Laura in her class last Fall, using polymer medium and a tack iron. I have a love/hate relationship with this method. I hate the process (coating papers) but love the final effect.
You really need to click on each photo to see the elements and the detail. This one just reminds me of the water and lava rocks and sunny skies.
Here's what it looks like in the frame. Difficult to see with the glare, I know, but the total effect is so cool. Especially when you realize I bought this frame from HomeGoods for only $8! I took out the tacky prints that were in it, and replaced with my collages.
And here's the piece with the mat but without the glare from the glass in the frame. Using the Hawaiian fabrics was an inspiration that came to me while mindlessly walking on my treadmill this morning. Sometimes we never know when inspiration will hit us!
Here are the Valentine ATC's I made today. Some of these don't look much like Valentines; they're more subtle. Used the same background for all--it was the Artist Sheet in the latest Somerset Studios. I usually tear those out and then never use them, but I really liked the colors and patterns in this one. Make sure you click on the photos to enlarge.
The unifying theme in all of these ATC's was the Paris "postmark" stamp. While I was at it, I cut up a lot more blanks for ATC's so I'll have them ready when the mood strikes (tomorrow?!). I also have an ATC stamp for the back that includes name, date, etc., so they're all stamped and ready for future fun. I just love Valentine's Day--any day that celebrates love is great in my book. And it doesn't have to be romantic love, either. Love is the most powerful force in this Universe. And I do celebrate it.
Here are the Valentine ATC's I finished today. These were a lot of fun. I used only things I had on hand. I made 16 altogether.
It was fun to use the paint sample words, as a challenge, on each piece. I tried to choose words that were descriptive of the person or of the card in general. The large black hearts are cut out of a velvety paper--great tactile experience.
I have lots of "romantic" embellishments on hand, so it was fairly easy to complete these in a little over an hour.
The one on the bottom right is my favorite. The word says "delicate," and I thought the clipart and the feather further enhanced the feeling of delicacy. Tomorrow I will mail some off.
Today I decided to make some ATC's for Valentine's Day. I've been wanting to make some ATC's for awhile now, and I'm happy to be beginning them. I will mail them out to some of my artist friends. Here are the cards with various backgrounds; nearly all of these are my own papers. Some are painted tissue papers, some are copies of collages, some are baby wipes that have soaked up fluid acrylics.
And here is my personal challenge--to incorporate one of these words from a booklet of red paint samples. Some are names and numbers of paint colors. I always like to give myself a little challenge like this. It adds a fun element and it also gives some continuity to the cards. Tomorrow I will finish them up!
