Working with Metal...

Hi and I have something really fun to show today!  My oldest is living in her first "real" apartment....one that she can finally decorate the way she would like to...but on a very tight budget.  So, enter "mom".  I have been shopping with Bess and seeing what she likes then trying to recreate it on a cheaper scale.  And, when her tastes change, she can "deconstruct" the decorative items that I have made and repurpose the different pieces and parts into some other use.  One thing that she seemed to like was "tiles"....and we saw different decorated tiles at nearly every store we went to.  Most were accented with metal and had an overall shabby chic look to them.  I found my "tiles" at the paper mache' aisle of Hobby Lobby.  Each paper mache tile was only a few dollars and that of course is before coupons.  I  had Bess pick out the various papers that she liked and wanted me to work with.  And from there I had free rein to go where ever my imagination took me. The tiles measure 6" x 6" and so a the small paper packs are a perfect fit. And, wow, this was so fun.  I first decided that the floral would be the center tile and then went from there.  I decided that the two "bookending" tiles would be decorated exactly the same but with coordinating papers in order to tie the whole grouping together.  The "metal" is foil paper that I embossed in some Spellbinder embossing folders and then worked over with Distress Alcohol Inks as well as some copper Perfect Pearls and then finally, Staz On Saddle and Timber Inks.  I LOVE HOW THIS LOOKS!  I really think that this looks like burnished metal!   In the center tile I also cut a simple circle out of foil paper and then stamped it lightly with a "script" stamp as well as a IO crackled background stamp.  This stamping was also carried over to the two side tiles for continuity.  I then used that foil circle as a mirror effect for the center tile.  The two side tiles were accented with the same door/dresser pull that I bought from Hobby Lobby.  Hobby Lobby has an amazing variety of these pulls and they are almost always on discount.  I find that when I can't find the metal style that I want I can easily change almost any of the others with some sanding and ink to look the way that I want them.  I am entering this project into the Drunken Stampers Challenge #152-Thing: METAL.  I haven't ever entered this particular site before but have followed their various challenges and love the the fun approach they have to crafting.

First I will show a pic of how the tiles look as a grouping.....I am sorry the pic is so small...not sure how to make it bigger.   Then my next pics will be of each tile on it's own.

I am really excited to get this in the mail to Bess and actually, to try another set of tiles.  I am envisioning a 9 tile wall grouping......

Thanks for stopping by and be well!

Sheila