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Holiday Gifts this year were a Pinterest Success

This past holiday season, I decided to create most of my gifts as I wanted more of a personal and crafty touch. :) I always enjoy being crafty & each year I get it in my head that I want to make my holiday gifts, but always seem to lack the time for all of my ideas. So this time, I got started earlier with gathering of ideas and deciding to stick with 1 main project that could be used as gifts for multiple family members and friends.

While perusing Pinterest, I came across the idea of photo tiles.. I did a little research to understand the actual process and see what supplies were needed. It just seemed like the perfect gift idea that was versatile enough for so many people in my life :) and I got so many compliments and thank you's on them!

See below for the process & details. It's really fairly easy, just a matter of getting the supplies, finding the photos you'd like to use & preparing them.

Supplies:

-Printed photos/photocopies from a laser printer/xerox machine 

-Gel medium (I used Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium)

-Wet sponge

-Clear finish spray

-Sponge brushes

-Tile primer 

-Ceramic tiles (I used 4"x4")

1) Go through photos to choose which moments you want to feature on these tiles

2) Once photos are selected, you will need to make photocopies of them or print from a laser printer but first, the images will need to be reversed using a photo editor program

     

     *If the images are not reversed when you print them out, you will be putting the photos face down on the tiles and they will appear backwards on the tiles once done & if there are any words or #'s in the photo, they will also appear backwards*

      ** Also very important, ink jet printers will not work, only laser printers/xerox machines are to be used with regular photocopy paper**

3) With a sponge brush, paint tile primer on the ceramic tiles, and let dry. Then paint on the gel medium and immediately flip over your photo so it's face down on the tile.

4) Smooth out the back of the photo so there are no bumps/bubbles and let it set and transfer for 24hrs.

5) After 24hrs, using a wet sponge, start to moisten the photo paper and with your finger start to rub off the white paper fibers.

6) You will start to see the image appearing through the moistened paper and that it has transferred. Continue moistening & rubbing the white paper fibers until the image is clear, such as below :)

7) Set with a clear finish spray and Voila! Below are some examples of my finished products!