Day two of school went just fine. Both Dylan and Ethan seem to be doing ok. Ethan had some serious apprehension about it this year, which turned out to be all about the upcoming MEAP. Apparently he was worried about how he’d do. I think after my conversation with him we got that all straightened out. He came home yesterday pretty happy, so I assume it worked.

Yesterday after I took the boys to school and ran to the grocery store, I dropped Shelby off at my in-laws. I had a lunch date yesterday with my mom so my in-laws were baby sitting. I ended up with a few minutes to spare before I had to pick up my mom and created an altered tile. I have a bunch of them that I’ve done in all different sizes that hang along the soffit in my office/scrap room. They all start as just plain white glazed tiles. This one is 6×6. If you want to recreate the look, here are the steps…

Supplies you’ll need:
-Glazed Tile
-Alcohol Ink & Applicator
-Mask (I used a piece of Maya Road Petals and Leaves Sheer Sheet)
-Removable Adhesive
-Permanent Adhesive
-Cardstock (to mount your photo on)
-Photo & Misc embellishments (in this case jewels, ribbon and a flower)

The steps are simple. First make sure your tile is clean and dry. I’d suggest soap and water and not any type of chemical cleaner for this task. After you’ve dried it COMPLETELY take whatever you plan to use as your mask and apply some removable adhesive to the back. I used Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L E-Z Dots for this. Then apply the mask on to the top of the tile.

After applying your mask and getting it positioned where you want it, get out your alcohol inks. I used three different shades of brown for mine as I wanted to pull the brown from the color of Shelby’s shirt. Put your drops of alcohol ink onto the applicator and dab away over the top of the mask. Nothing has to be perfect here and alcohol ink is pretty forgiving… just dab back over it if you don’t like the application. You just want to be sure your mask stays in place.

Once the ink has been applied, remove your mask. Alcohol ink dries fairly quickly, but I did use my heat gun to help in along a bit. Again, make sure your mask is removed first so you don’t melt it. After the ink has dried, you can rub off any of the removable adhesive that may have transferred to the tile in the process.

No all that remains is embellishing and placing your photo. One this one all I did was tie some ribbon around, place a flower on top and put a jewel in the center. Then I matted my photo, adhered it and stick on the jewel “princess” title. Everything is adhered to the tile using a permanent adhesive runner, such a and E-Z Runner by Scrapbook Adhesive by 3L.

This is a quick project that looks like it took a lot more effort. I probably got this done in about 15 minutes or so max. To hang them I get plate hangers, which you can find at your local home improvement store, (i.e. Lowes, where I also get the tiles).

Enjoy!

~j