Paper Mosaic Table for Kitchen

For this project I was inspired by two challenges and a ‘fear’ of ending up with 140 scrapbook albums. At the end of February, I received some albums I ordered and I was shocked to see that I filled 7 albums in one year! So if I continue to scrap at this pace, I will have 140 scrapbook albums in 20 years’ time. This was a big shock for me to process.

I worked on this project for most of March 2020, so at least I did not have a lot of layouts to put into albums for March… But ultimately I did not enjoy it as much as I do normal scrapbook layouts, so in April I will continue to accumulate my 140 albums…

First I was inspired by the colors of the Mixed Media Academy Challenge for March – to use black and white photographs with shades of purple.

Secondly, I was inspired by the More Than Words Challenge for March to use square photographs and a food theme.

My Kitchen is actually purple, so incorporating the food theme was very easy. I decided to revamp a small table in our kitchen.

This is what the table looked like before the revamp. I actually really liked how it looked. Except…

The table had spray paint marks on the one corner that really irritated me. Also the blue color did not really fit into the purple kitchen.

This is the theme of my kitchen. So I decided to paint the table in a sand color with chalk paint.

Furthermore I was inspired by this lovely coffee table my mother-in-law did in 2006. She used scrapbook paper to “mosaic” the table and then covered it with liquid glass.

So after painting the table, I started to cut and puzzle black and white photographs with a food or drink theme and different shades of purple blocks.

I used brown distress ink on the edges of all the blocks.

I painted the chipboard pieces with black all purpose ink. Then I used modge podge to glue all the blocks and the ribbon down on the table.

The main photograph is of my husband and I cutting our wedding cake.

I put ribbon around the edge of the table to act as a ‘dam wall’ for the liquid glass, but the liquid glass was thick enough not to run down the edges.

The liquid glass consists of two bottles that I mixed together. After pouring it over the table, I used the box it came in to scrape the liquid glass evenly over the whole table.

It only made bubbles where I put the chipboard words and butterflies, not at the photographs or the paper. I used a straw to blow on the bubbles to remove them.

I used two boxes of liquid glass, but it was not enough for the entire table. South Africa is in Lockdown due to the Corona Virus at the moment, so I could not buy more liquid glass, but after the Lockdown I will add another layer of liquid glass with two more boxes. The table had to stay in a room without dust or insects for a week before I could add another layer or use the table.

I love my table, but I look forward to doing albums full of normal scrapbook layouts in the future!