Forever In Bloom Mixed Media Mosaic

Stay-at-home mom Amy Baldwin doesn't have a lot of free time with a one-year-old running around. After the birth of her son Jack, she tried to find a way to be productive and still be home with her baby boy. After thinking it over she decided her love of arts and crafts might just be the answer. She began designing and creating unique one-of-a-kind collaged mosaic pieces. She shows how to make a piece titled "Forever in Bloom."

Materials:

2" x 12" pine wood--cut into an 11-1/4" x 11-1/4" square
pencil
gel medium
sponge brush
1 12" x 12" sheet of yellow striped scrapbook paper
1 12" x 12" sheet of green polka dot scrapbook paper
1 8" x 10" piece of mottled black and white paper (composition notebook)
1 red flower doily
roll of red "brick" pattern handmade paper
army green retro wrapping paper scrap (flower)
swirl stamp
black inkpad
black technical pen
curly alphabet stamps--lower case to make the word "forever"
clear acrylic sealer spray matte
card stock for mosaic stencil or pattern
scissors
17 brass upholstery nails
medium gauge copper sheeting
picture hanger or bracket
hammer
broken ceramic or plates in red and bright assorted colors
tile nippers
tile adhesive
metal swirl trivet--for embossing
paintbrush
hot glue and hot glue gun
heavy gauge copper wire
cordless drill
black metal swirl hook
white grout
mixing bowl
spatula
Lazy Susan
small red bottle cap alphabet (lower case) "in"
small black bottle cap alphabet (lower case) "flower"
4 clear glass gems
playing cards (red and blue back) for gems
12" strand of funky green pom-poms
thick red paint pen

Steps:

1. Decide, which side, will be the front and the back of the wood block. Although the front will be covered, make sure it doesn't have large knots or cracks as it will be hard to nail into.

2. Choose a topic or theme such as; flower (demo), curly Q, chocolate, etc.

4. Collect paper, printouts, pictures, etc. Start tearing images and placing on wood to determine appearance. Play around with two-dimensional elements. Keep in mind that you will need to cover the sides, too. Overlap onto the back if needed.

5. Glue or decoupage all two-dimensional paper pieces onto the wood for large blocks of color. Glue on a piece of yellow stripe scrapbook paper first; cover the bottom area as well.

6. Glue on a piece of green polka dot scrapbook paper, overlapping the yellow. Cover the top of the block and the top right corner.

7. Glue the red doily down and place it off center.

9. Glue the red brick pattern paper down the entire left side being sure to cover the top left and bottom left corners.

10. Glue an army green flower (wrapping paper scrap) in the center of the doily.

11. Stamp a swirl design to the top left corner.

12. Write cursive phrases around the swirl design with a technical pen. Examples: he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, etc.