Holiday Coasters

Holiday Coasters, originally uploaded by scrapmavin1.

I made the coasters for the "Deck The Halls" contest on the Hero Arts blog. The coasters were so easy and inexpensive to make. I think I paid about 47 cents per tile. I plan to make a bunch for the holidays for last minute gifts to have on hand. The stamping/coloring for all four took about 45 minutes. I usually spend twice that on a card. I have to admit I was inspired, so I didn't have to spend the first 45 minutes thinking about what to stamp.

Stamps Used:
E2603 Trees With Bright Stars (Hero Arts)
LL046 Wavy Winter Wishes (Hero Arts)
Happy Holidays Studio G
Inks and Markers
Staz-on:Jet Black, Versa Magic: Red Magic
Marvy Markers
Krylon Crystal Effects
Agora Almond Tiles (4" x 4") From Lowes

Thin cork or felt for backing
Other useful items: baby wipes (not the oily kind!), paper towels, rubbing alcohol, blow dryer or heat embosser

Directions:

1. Wash and Dry your tiles to remove any dust. I dried my tiles off with my heat embosser.
2. Stamp your design on your tiles (I used Versa Magic and Staz-on). After each image I hit the tile with a blast of heat from the embosser.
3. Color in your design with Marvy Markers or similar. Hit it with heat form a blow dryer or heat embosser.
4. If you make a mistake with the Staz-on, you will need to use rubbing alcohol to remove it. Versa Magic only requires a baby wipe. In either case, remove the mistake before hitting it with heat.
5. Stick your tiles in the oven. Set the temperature to 350 degrees farenheit. When the oven reaches 350, set your timer for 30 minutes. When they have baked 30 minutes, take the tiles out and let them cool.
6. Once cool, spray with Krylon Crystal Clear. Spray in a well ventilated open area. I put up a box shield so it didn't get all over everything. Let dry.
7. Repeat step 6, 3-5 times to get a good protective coating.
8. For the backing I used Cork with adhesive that I found at the hardware store.

If you try it, let me know how it works out. Also, apparently Krylon has a new acrylic coating that only takes about 2 coats rather than the 5 I did. It is called Triple Thick Glaze. If you try the new glaze, leave a comment and let me know how it works out for you.