Arts And Crafts

Image on MixTiles foam block.

My office needed a personal touch and some brightening up and what better way to do that than with some images of our Portuguese Water Dog pack?

 My trusty iPhone was a huge help in making my vision happen and the first three images I hung were a collaboration between two Apps, Prisma and Mixtiles.  

Prima describes the App as follows: "Prisma transforms your photos and videos into works of art using the styles of famous artists: Van Gogh, Picasso, Levitan, as well as world famous ornaments and patterns. A unique combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence helps you turn memorable moments into timeless art."    

Mixtiles popped up in a social media feed one day and and caught my attention. These super light weight foam picture tiles have adhesive tabs on the back to stick them to the wall.  They are able to be re-stuck again and again to change the design and the adhesive does not damage the walls.  The tiles cost $49 for your first 3 with each additional tile costing $9.  Shipping is free on all orders. 

Artist's Loft Canvas Panels (from back)

I ordered the minimum of three tiles to see if I liked them or not.  When they arrived I was very pleased and my coworkers all really liked them.  Visitors to the office frequently comment on them and ask about them.

 

I wanted to add to my wall, but thought I might be able to come up with a similar end result for less expense.  At the craft store, I found a five-pack of Artist's Loft® Necessities™ Canvas Panels. They are 100% cotton, medium-weight canvas primed with acid-free white acrylic gesso.  The cotton canvas wraps around all sides, and is secured in place on the backside of the panel board.  The 5-pack of panels was around $6.99.

Image on Canvas Panel.

 Using my iPhone and Walgreens photo printing service, I selected some additional photos I had edited with the Primsa App and had them printed as 8 x 8 prints and mailed to me.  Six 8 x 8 prints, including shipping, were $30.00.

I attached the photos to the canvas panels using decoupage glue (white glue and water mixed 50/50) and a foam paintbrush, gluing small pieces of recycled foam to the back of the tiles to hold the images off the wall so they would appear similar to the MixTiles.

Image on Artists Canvas

Images were hung using Command Strip Small Picture Hanging strips.

Finally, I had one last photo and had run out of canvas panels, so I went to a different craft storage and could not find what I had used previously.  For my last photo, I used an 8 x 8 artists canvas on a wood frame (around $6.99). 

8 x 8 Artists Canvas (back view)

Above is the end result of my project.  The five images to the left are mounted on Canvas Panels and cost approx. $6.40 each, the one to the far right is mounted on artists canvas and cost approx. $11.99 and the remaining three were the originals purchased through MixTiles and were around $16.00 each.