Valentine's Day Paint Skin Tiles Craft

I was inspired by a post on Facebook. I 'like' some great Facebook pages through my own Facebook account. I love to share what I find and this time I decided to try to copy one from Inner Child Fun. Her Kid Made Paint Skin Tiles looked so tile like and pretty. It looked easy enough and I have some acrylic paints. I also had 2 large quarts of interior house paint that I never used for another project. A project I envisioned more than 5 years ago. I bought it when I was delusional enough to think that I would paint something artsy in our entry way.  I thought maybe the house paint would make a nice base. Plus, the only other acrylic paints I have are small bottles for much smaller painting projects. I was skeptical about what the results would be when I figured out that the quarts were interior satin enamel paint. I thought, "acrylic or enamel, kinda the same, right?"

Swirling acrylic paint into the base enamel paint.

I gathered the supplies and the children and hoped for the best. I am always apprehensive when it comes to permanent paint. My dining room chairs still hold the evidence of previous adventures.

Supplies for creating the paint skin tiles.

I attempted to tape down the pieces of parchment paper on cookie sheets. The tape not wanting to stay put wasn't an issue once we poured the base paint out. I wasn't real sure how thick to go with the base. I didn't want it to never dry, but wanted it to be thick enough to be tile like. One thing I didn't expect was the parchment paper getting all wrinkled. I was concerned the paint would saturate and go through the paper. It didn't. My cookie sheets are old so I thought maybe it would be a good excuse for new ones if this craft didn't work out. No new cookie sheets for me. :(

We spooned and poured out enough of the base (deep purple) paint to cover the paper, using enough so that when we swirled the paint with the toothpick it wouldn't scrape the paper. Does that make sense? If I had to guess I would guess 1/8 inch thick. I let the kids add the other acrylic paints and swirl away. They absolutely loved playing in the paint and said, "this is the best craft ever!" 

Mass mess of acrylic paint swirled into enamel base paint to set out to dry into paint skin tiles.

When they found out they would have to wait at least 2 days before finishing the whole project they were less thrilled. Even though we live in the dry air of Arizona, it took the full two days to dry. They got excited again when they felt the dried paint and I told them they could peel it off the paper and make their Valentine creations. For my sensory seeking girls this was a good thing. The paint was sort of rubbery.

Peeling the dried paint (paint skins) away from the parchment paper. 

Instead of just creating square tiles, my girls wanted to create hearts. They wanted to use the heart cookie cutters for the shapes. The cookie cutters did not cut the paint skin. We had to use scissors. I did convince them to cut some squares for a mosaic tile effect too.

Using cookie cutters to create shapes out of the paint skin.

Once we figure out how to make the paint skins look pretty, we used regular school glue to attach them to the paper.

Heart made out of the paint skin for a Valentine's Day Card.

Valentine's Day Card with paint skin X and Os.

The Hugs -n- Kisses card on the inside says "...always. Happy Valentine's Day."

Paint skin  tiles used to create a mosaic like heart with a piece missing.

My girls only finished three pieces for this project. They spent more time playing with the paint skin tiles than they did creating anything else with them. Although we may not have perfect results, the process was far more valuable than the actual product.

I am linking up to these craft parties!

Stay Tuned For More Soon...

It seems that winter is my challenging time of year for getting my work posted. I have some great projects to share. Please be patient as I get my less than professional photos together.

Glass Jar Turkey Decoration

Using the same glass jars we used for our pumpkins we created turkeys for Thanksgiving. We removed the orange and green paper, the black noses and mouths. We then created tail feathers using scrapbook paper. I solved the glue problem by using Beacon's 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue that I got at Michaels. The kids call it snot glue. It is thick, but gooey and stringy. It does stick to everything so far.  

Thanksgiving Turkeys

Before they become turkeys. They looked scared!

Supplies, including the Snot Glue.

Using the scrap paper was Hey's idea. Personally I thought using the traditional red, yellow, and orange tail feathers would look great. The girls wanted them to look like real feathers and thought the patterns on the scrapbook paper was the best choice. Little did I know that meant lots of different paper.  We used the orange and green paper from the pumpkins to guide the size of the brown paper for inside the jars.

Using the paper from the Pumpkin to size the paper for the inside of the Turkey Jar. 

The tracing of feathers from the template to be cut out. 

I took a chance and did one feather template free hand. I must have done 10 of them before we came up with a general consensus on the one we liked. We then used it to trace others onto the scrap paper. I think the feathers came out okay.

Tracing the hard way.

I had to tell Hey it was easier to trace it on the white side of the paper. Myrrh wanted all peacock feathers despite my discouragement. It doesn't look like a turkey to me. It looks like a peacock! Oh well, it is one of my areas of growth. Letting go and allowing my children to direct what they see as art. They are cute no matter what they may or may not look like.

Using the snot glue to attach the feathers to the jar.

I will claim credit for the yellow foam feet since that was my idea. The top hat and red scarf were again Hey's idea. She thinks that makes it a decorative turkey. The top hat was a challenge. Hey stapled the circle of the hat. Then she taped the top from the inside. It doesn't look good from the inside, but it works all the same from the outside.

Taping the top of the hat.

Finished hat. See you barely can see the mess.

The beaks and red gobble neck on one of the turkeys were cut from vinyl type shape stickers that we had.

Completed set of Thanksgiving Turkey Jars.

Turkey with a gobble.

The snot glue was very helpful this time keeping the tail feathers attached to the jar and the red scarf. Just think if we had discovered how good the snot glue was to begin with, we may never have gotten the pumpkin jars that we are able to transition for every holiday. Wait until you see the Christmas jars!  Until then, happy crafting. I am linking up to these craft parties!