A Smashing Saturday

So my girlfriends and I, trying to figure out something more to do together besides shopping and eating, came up with a crazy idea. Wouldn't making broken (more like smashed) plate mosaic pots be fun?? Heck yeah! It wasn't just fun, it turned into a day-long adventure. Leave it to the four of us to pick the most complicated first-annual craft day project ever!

We started with our plates and tiles. 

I went with matching ones (can we say Martha Stewart?).

 How did we smash the plates? With our hammers!

Me, Alison, Angela, and Kara

So when it came time to smashing the plates, we started in the backyard. Probably should have thought a little harder about that one. The damp ground plus Kara's scary super strength resulted in big holes in our paper bags and plate shards all over Emma's yard. After scooping up the shards, we moved to the driveway. Much better plan! 

Check out those pieces!

 We smashed them in the bags and then sifted through the pieces to find our favorites.

I'm telling you - if you have any stress or frustration in your life - you should totally try plate smashing!

Another thing we learned? 

Plate shards are sharp.

Blood also makes for very nice plate decor.

(Thank goodness we had the Dr. inside to fix her up!)

So after a lot of laughing and smashing, 

you end up with this:

By now we were freezing, so thankfully we were done with the smashing part. We did this project on a whim, so we really didn't have a plan. We knew we had to get the plate pieces to stick to the pots, cover it all with grout, and then wipe the grout off the tiles. In reality, it turned out to be so much more difficult than it sounds.

Can't wait to decorate our pots!

 We covered our pots with adhesive and tiles.

 After making the grout that Ron helped us find and trying to put it on the pot, we realized we needed fancy craft grout. So we headed to Michael's while we waited for the adhesive to dry. The white craft grout looked great, until we started to apply it. Did you know that your best tools are your hands? We did! Another hilarious highlight of the day? Any time we had an oops or a problem, guess what we yelled? "AMIT!!!" He'd come over, look at us like we were crazy, and then pick up the cameras to take pictures or try to help us figure out what to do. (He drew the line at helping me clean off the pots, which is why the tile one worked out and the pretty flower one ended up getting too hard and got thrown out. Like I said, hilarious adventure.)

We got messy!!

 After about an hour of grout drying and two (or more??) of trying to get the grout off, this is what we ended up with.

Now, it even has a plant in it!!

So after an 8 hour marathon of a craft session, it actually turned out alright. One thing we decided was that the next craft day will involve a much easier project. But seriously, I love these girls. (Obviously, if we can tolerate each other as we slowly run out of energy rubbing the grout off the pots.) Somehow we all ended up in the same place at the same time and came out with a great friendship. Now we even have the mosaic pots to prove it.