D-I-Y Coasters

I saw this idea on Pinterest a couple months back and thought it'd be a neat gift for those people that you have a hard time buying gifts for, teachers, grannies that have everything, distant family that you don't see enough to know anything personal to gift.  I made about 5-6 sets, and just sent three to school today as teacher gifts.  (Even though my 9 yr old says "But what if these don't match their living rooms?"...she got a lesson on all the various places one could use a coaster - I even surprised myself with the list haha!)  

This is super cheap.  I hit up Hobby Lobby (HL) during a 50% off sale on scrapbook paper and scored the sheets for around twenty-five cents each!  Each sheet made 4-6 coasters.  I purchased several tiles at Lowe's for around twenty cents each.  

Craft recipe:

4x4 Tiles (I did sets of 4)

Scrapbook paper cut into 4x4 squares

Mod Podge (MP)

Clear acrylic spray to seal

Felt circles

Glue the felt circles (I cheated and used the peel and stick felt) to each corner of the tiles, this is to prevent scuffing furniture.  

Apply MP to the back of the paper, smooth it onto the tiles.  Wait about 5-10 minutes (ya'll know I only waited like 2-3, right?) for it to set, then apply a layer of MP over the top of the paper.  

When MP is totally dry (about 30 minutes) spray with acrylic spray to seal and give a nice professional shine.  

Negatives - that clear spray STINKS.  For DAYS.  Do not under any circumstances spray this in your house unless you a. want to get high, and b. want to smell it for days.  Also -smoothing the paper out took some trial and error and I think out of 24 or so coasters I only had one bubble up.  

Additional ideas - my SSIL (Step-sis-in-law) suggested doing this with 4x4 squares of paper that have the kid's art, hand or foot prints (depending on their age obviously) as gifts for grandparents.  Really the possibilities are endless.  

I guarantee you these do not look like you "just glued some paper to some tiles".  The photo above is one of my more whimsical sets and was the first one I finished.  You can see on the plaid designs where it wasn't totally dry.  They did dry evenly and the darker "splotches" are no longer there.