Well, I used the same resin the two of you used, (I’d never bought resin before so I made sure to buy the exact one that I saw in your picture, lol,) however, I think the lower strength scotch tape that you pointed out is what made the difference. Anyhoo I’m glad that no one else had that problem!

I did remake the tray, and I used extra strength glue adhesive for the tiles instead and it turned out perfect.

Thanks!

~Allison~

Hey Allison,

Weird! I can assure you when we list a project’s steps that’s really what we did so we only used a loop or two of tape to hold each tile down and never had the issue with rising tiles that you describe. I wonder if you used lower strength scotch tape (the not as sticky opaque kind) or different resin (we don’t remember ours having that disclaimer about using glue and not tape. Either way we have had many readers email us photos of their tray projects without mention of this issue at all, but we’re very sorry to hear about those floating tiles. Maybe using glue as the instructions on you resin suggest is the best way to get a more polished finished product! Good luck…

xo,
s

~Allison~

However, I wish you had made a side not about the tile application. I’m not sure if you really did just use tape loops and it came out alright, but the tape loop application did not go well for me. The resin soaked in underneath the paper tiles and caused many of them to sort of float and come up. Afterwards I noticed on the resin container in tiny print that is says if you’re applying it over paper it’s really important to glue them on and then coat something on top of them so you don’t have the whole “floating tiles” problem. (I used the exact same resin you guys used.) So now my resin is all shiny and dry as promised, but has many tiles whose edges have floated up and so it’s rather uneven.

Anyhooo I just thought you might want to add a small warning or side note to the post. Had it not been for the floating tiles mishap, I would have totally LOVED the way the tray came out. I think I’ll remake it …

Thanks!
~Allison~

Hey Amanda,

I think a teal tray in a room with teal pillows is fine, but the teal on teal (placing a teal basket on the tray) might be a bit much. Maybe you can find a complementary tone of blue (lighter teal or even navy) and spray paint the basket so it’s a layered look instead of just all the same matchy matchy tone (which can look a bit flat, while different gradients of the same tone add depth and interest). Hope it helps!

xo,
s

Hey Erin J,

John actually came up with the idea to tile something with Moo cards a while back after we ordered some to use as our Young House Love business cards. He actually surprised me with the business cards- with different rooms of our house on the front and our url and info on the back- for our one year “paper” anniversary… but I digress.

So after we got the business cards he kept musing that they were shaped like tiles so maybe we should order more in solid colors or some sort of texture and faux-tile something. So we went for a long walk (we’re always at our most creative on walks or in the car, when there’s no computer or TV around to distract us) and talked about what we could tile (the top of a table with a sheet of glass over it, a picture and even the frame around it, a wall in our bathroom, etc). Somehow we got to the idea of a tray and we both liked it because it seemed simple and totally useful for entertaining.

John’s also been dying to use bar coat varnish for eons (we always thought we’d end up covering a photo with it and hanging the glossy work of art on the wall) but we thought it would be perfect for our tray project so we finally give it a whirl after months of talking about it.

So I guess the answer to your question is: we actually brainstorm about these things to come up with them (we don’t just wake up with these ideas all flushed out- although that would be just fabulous) and we also have a running list of materials and products that we’d love to try (like bar coat). Hope it helps! Happy creating…

xo,
Sherry