Copy Cat!

Good Friday to all my crafty friends! Yippeeeeee, we made it to another Friday! Isn't that funny? I don't know why we get so excited about Friday (except for the obvious), when I think we should be excited about making it to another day, EVERY DAY! :)  God's word says we aren't assured another day, something I try to teach my girls when it comes to the value of things, so we should be thankful that we wake up and breath each and every day! LOL

Today, I am going to share a "small" project with you, heeee, they are really small! :) Now, let me preface this by saying I TOTALLY stole this idea from a sweet, sweet lady by name of Linda over on LivArtNow!  She has the sweetest voice and I love watching her videos and browsing her blog posts! She is such a creative artist in many areas and you should definitely check her out.

Now, when I posted yesterday that AWESOME haul I got in the mail, I mentioned that I wanted to use those amazing stamps for many things, but one in particular was to make art tiles! I have so wanted to delve into polymer clay on that level. I don't desire to do anything else with clay, not really my thing, but because I love ATC's and the amazing looks of mosaics, I came upon polymer clay tiles through Linda and some other online artists showing how I could use clay in both of those areas. Linda has a YouTube video here that you can watch and see her technique for making art tiles.

I loved the tiles Linda made and I was confident that I could replicate those tiles. Now, let me also say, it is not my intention, EVER, to copy an artist, but to maybe glean from their gift and then somehow incorporate it into my crafting hobby as well. So I wanted to make a first batch that is very similar to hers and then as I continue, put my own own style and mark on them. Also I wanted to make the first batch as a launcher for my polymer clay tiles. Obviously the clay will be a totally different game, but it gave me a feel for working with something small.

I am already antique/flea market hound, but after I saw her video, I began to comb my local markets for old Scrabble games to use the wood pieces. Score! I found one for $2! Can't beat that! So I immediately went home and dove in! I first Gesso'd all the pieces and then got out Tim's tissue tape in various backgrounds and applied to the tiles. I then gave them another coat of Gesso.

When I first saw her video and the stamps she used, I was so envious because I thought, hey, I don't have any cute "little" stamps like that! But I went through my stash of stamps and you wouldn't believe the stuff I found, that I didn't know I had!! I hat bits and bobbles stamps from Prima, Unity and I even inked up pieces of stamps and used! It worked out great! I used Archival ink in black for all. I then pulled out my Distress Inks in various colors and added a little here and there.

I then edged all the pieces with Archival in in black and then coated the sides with just acrylic black paint. I didn't bother with the back because I am sure I will be using them in projects. After it all dried, I Mod Podged over and let dry again. I then Added the 3D Crystal Lacquer over top and VOILA!  Not too shabby ay?

I enjoyed this quick and easy craft and I thank Linda for sharing her style with us on YouTube. I want to make many more of these and then find a way to incorporate the wood pieces with the polymer clay pieces in my mosaics. I think it would be cool!!

Becoming a Christian taught me A LOT about learning to be comfortable with "me," because I am who I am because of Christ! When we are younger, we get so fixed on what the media, books and magazines say "we should be or look like," and we try to fit in those molds! Not a great choice to make because mostly those are unattainable goals! You can't really look like someone else because they are unique all on their own! So we should never strive to be like or look like someone else, UNLESS you are striving to "be like" or "look like" Christ! That's the only One I want to say that I truly "copy cat!" In Romans 8:29, God's Word says that "For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son!" That is something I DEFINITELY want to strive to do...conform to Jesus's image! When people see or hear me, they ought to be seeing or hearing Christ!

While I don't condone being a "copy cat" I do believe God gave us gifts to share with others that we could all enjoy! Each gift is different, yet each is unique! So I am so thankful to Linda for her beautiful, unique gift! I love our art community because EVERYONE freely share's their talent and I am so thankful to be a part of and amongst that as well!

Won't you strive to "copy cat" or conform to the image of Christ today? That's one "copy cat" you will be blessed for!

Have an AWESOME weekend! :)