DIY: Talavera Tiles

As promised, here are photos of the Mexican-inspired tiles I painted for my kitchen:

I think they turned out pretty well! The red/orange one is my favorite - I love all the fun details. All of these were inspired by tiles I've seen somewhere - one was based on my mini-tile I got in Mexico, two were based on Mexican jewelry I saw on Etsy, and one was actually based on one of my ceramic sugar canisters, which also turned out to have talavera designs. Funny thing is, they were Mr. G's before we got married! I love when things work out like that. :)

The only direction I can give on making these is to measure your perimeter designs and your center to make sure everything is symmetrical. From there, I just free-handed it. My advice is to be creative, have fun with it, and don't be afraid to make mistakes! Paint is actually very forgiving, so it's not as bad as it seems. Plus, perfection is boring. ;) As for supplies, I bought the tiles from Home Depot (they are real floor tiles!), and the paint/brushes from Michael's. I used acrylic paint, and I was happy with how it turned out, but you can also buy ceramic paint, which may have been a better idea in retrospect.

In other news, we are getting the house ready for this weekend, because my parents are coming to visit! Thankfully, we are pretty much unpacked now - I just have to make sure everything is good to go and try to get some more crafts done! I still don't know how I'm going to hang up these tiles (or if they'll even hang), and I have set a goal of finishing one more DIY project before this weekend. I think I can manage that, since I'm only working two days this week.

Also, speaking of DIY, Mr. G and I made the mistake of attempting to cut our dog's hair ourselves yesterday... We have an adult lab/collie with long, bushy hair. Bathing her is a task in itself (and requires extensive clean-up), but cutting her hair was one big struggle. We took her out to the garage, used Mr. G's cutting shears (yep, I cut his hair!), and went to town. The shears didn't work well, though, so we eventually we just started hacking off her hair with scissors, and while she definitely has shorter hair now, she looks like she just survived some form of medieval torture. Ok, so maybe it's not that bad, but it is pretty funny; I keep finding random long hairs sticking out of nowhere. So, I get the honor of taking her into Petco in the morning to get it fixed, and I can't wait to see the faces of the grooming staff when we walk in. This is one DIY project I don't think I'll repeat.

How are you guys celebrating Mother's Day?? Got any good dessert recipes for me to borrow? :)

<3 Mrs. G