Simple Christmas gift!
These cute little coasters aren't "Christmasy" but they would make awesome, inexpensive gifts...and you are ONLY limited by your imagination. You could use favorite family photos, holiday graphics from The Graphics Fairy...maybe tickets stubs from your favorite concert or movie...old letters or stamps...or anything that can be copied or printed onto paper!!! These would make awesome teachers or hostess gifts...or even stocking stuffers!
As I mention here, I am horrible about using coasters...as a result, my bedside table was in pretty bad shape from the beating it took from my nightly glass of water and morning coffee cup!
After finding and refinishing this walnut table treasure, I knew I needed to do something to protect the top. I had a piece of glass cut to protect the old Duncan Phyfe table, but I honestly didn't want to cover this table with glass.
Pinterest to the rescue! I saw some really darling personalized coasters on Pinterest and I knew exactly what I wanted to do! (Did I bother to pin it so I would have a "link"...no!)
Brian and I love to fly fish and I decided to make "map coasters" of a few of our favorite fishing spots in Colorado and Arkansas.
I picked up a few pieces of ceramic 4 x 4 tile at Habitat (.10 each!). I found a few old maps in my closet and used the tile to trace the area I wanted to cut out....
I used a 2" chip brush to coat the top of the tile with Modge Podge....
...and carefully placed the cutout map on the tile and then brushed the top with more Modge Podge.
The map paper was a tad flimsy and wanted to "crinkle" and bubble. I used my finger to smooth it out and then brushed it with the Modge Podge again! After letting the MP dry per the directions, I sprayed 2-3 coats of poly on the top just for good measure!
After the poly dried, I cut a piece of "felt blanket" to fit and used hot glue to secure it to the back of the tile. You could use cork board as well!
There you go...a simple little project that can be personalized to your heart's content! I had honestly intended to make some "Christmasy" coasters for the holidays but "crafting" isn't something I have a whole lot of time for during the holiday season! You could make one for every holiday...Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, Halloween. This is a simple, inexpensive little project that would be easy and fun for kids as well!
