How to Make Your own Eggshell Mosaic Embellishments!!

 

I have lot's of fun things to share with you all today! I have a fun little tutorial to share with you all on how to make really cute Eggshell Mosaic Embellishments using an old time technique (You will find the tutorail below).   And more great news, it's shipping week this week over at Webster's Pages for their gorgeous new collection 'Royal Christmas'!  I just love the rich jewel colors in this collection, it made me think of this photo of my youngest daughter Meagan.  She has such dark, dark hair an pale skin, we say she is like our little Snow White.  This whole layout is made up of the new collection papers and embellishments (with a little sprinkling of Dusty Attic Chipboard as well! :)  ....I also used a Diamond Tag Stamp from Websters Pages behind the photo...here (below) is a look at the background paper with the stampwork before I added the photo and embellishments, (I think this helps show steps in how the page is created) ...I just marked lightly in pencil the frame & photo placements and then started stamping....

....and here are some close-ups of this page and it's embellishments... 

How cute are those new gathered and layered Princess Petals from Websters Pages!  I tinted the white one here in the center using a little bit of red/pink Perfect Pearls Mica dust.  And check out the gorgeous trims that coordinate with the Websters Pages Royal Christmas Collection!  I just love the peacock colors of the crochetted lace and the gathered netting and gold chain! 

I'm just loving the peacock images in this paper collection.  Here I cut out the peacock and added a beautiful Dusty Attic Scroll Border #1 to extend the tail!  I just painted the chipboard with some turquoise paint, topped it with some Waterfall Stickles and then added a coat of Glossy Accents to finish the chipboard. 

I also cut out the frame in one of the patterned papers and used foam dots to make it stand out from the page more.  I also outlined with a bit of Platinum Stickles and added some adhesive pearls and gems to give a really ornate look to the frame. 

 

And finally, I added some handmade mosaic pieces to this layout using an old-timey technique using real eggshells!!  Below I've outlined a step by step on how I made these :)

 

TUTORIAL:  Making Eggshell Mosaics

 

Prepare by making taking your eggshells and soaking in warm water and a dash of antibacterial soap. (I've been told to soak it overnight, but I found soaking it for an hour worked well for me) ...I had loads of eggs because I made a big batch of Eggs Benedict for my family one evening and saved all the shells! :)

Now you'll want to make sure you pull out all the inner membrane in the shells.  This is a necessary step, otherwise your shell pieces won't stick to your chipboard, the glue will only adhere to the membrane and the shell could fall off.  So be sure to remove all of it.  For me, most of it came off in big sections (I find if you use really fresh eggs the membrane comes off easily).   

Step 1:  I've said it before....I save everything!  Here I used the pop out squares from a window chipboard design frome Dusty Attic.  Normally these would be discarded but I thought I'd use them as the base for my mosaic.  You can also hand cut out shapes from scrap pieces of chipboard to use as your base (I cut out some hearts for another upcoming project) ...now to the point..paint your chipboard pieces with a little bit of Gesso, white acrylic paint will work just as well.

Step 2:  For a small mosaic piece such as above, I just cover the whole piece thoroughly with some glue...I used Aleene's Tacky Glue.  But if you are working with bigger pieces of chipboard, work in smaller sections. 

Step 3: The quickest and easiest way to do this is to take a larger piece of eggshell, place it on the glue (curved side up) and push down with your finger to crack.  Allow some of the cracks to be a little larger so that when you color your piece the ink will show more in the cracks. 

Step 4:  Use small bits of eggshell to fill in area's that did not get covered by the first piece of eggshell.  Don't worry about bits of the egshell hanging over the edges.  Allow the glue to dry completely and then carefully crack off the excess eggshell bits. 

Step 5:  Once you've cracked off the excess bits of eggshell from the edges, just take some sandpaper or a sanding block and gently sand the edges if needed. 

Now the fun part!  Pull out your alcohol inks, Perfect Pearls (mica dust) or Glimmer Mist.  The key is to use translucent colors for staining your pieces, the effect is nicest with clear colors as opposed to opaque paints.   ...Too much color? no probem, just dab with a paper towel to remove excess, if it's already dried, use a little bit of Tim Holtz Alcohol Blending Solution to remove or lighten the colors.  Here I used a combination of Tim Holtz 'Pool' and 'Meadow' alcohol inks. (sorry about the poor photo for this one, I was taking the photo with my left hand while trying to squirt on the alcohol ink for the pic :)

I added a wee bit of glimmer to my mosaics with some Inca Gold Pearlex (Mica dust)....or you could use some spritzes of Glimmer mist instead.  I finished it off by giving the whole thing a nice thick coat of Glossy Accents to give the pieces a nice shine.  Let your piece dry, and then it's ready for use!  I added one of the new Websters Pages Charms to accent the center mosaic piece.

 

I have one more little project to share with you all usng the new WP Royal Christmas collection, and that is a card...I love to use the scraps from the projects I've been working on and make up a quick little card.  Here I made a gift card using the patterned papers, Websters Trims and Charms!

I cut out a feather shape from the music notes design in one of the papers and cut fine little fringes to make these faux feather embellishments.   I also embellished with a bin of the Websters Pages Trim and a couple of the lovely WP Charms.  Here is a close-up pic..... 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and hope you give it a try.  My girls had a friend over and we made up a whole bunch of mosaic pieces, they had so much fun creating their little treasures!  Enjoy!