Crafting Christmas

Mod Podge has long been my friend. So you can imagine how excited I was to introduce my 5 1/2-year-old daughter to Mod Podge. {Really, this day was quite monumental: Cate met Crossword Puzzles and Scrabble Junior the very same day.} So Mod Podge helped Cate and I make some coasters we’re including in people’s Christmas presents.

{Oh, and, hey, if you’re one of my girl’s grandmas or aunts, just pretend you’re surprised when you open yours …}

I took pictures throughout the process, which happened in two naptimes. You know, when my curious, messy 3-year-old boy was sleeping …

If you want to make some easy {and cheap!} coasters, here’s what you’ll need :

• Tiles {We made eight seats of four coasters. The tiles cost 30 cents each at Lowe’s. $9.60}
• Mod Podge {I’ve had my bottle for awhile, but I think it’s about $5 at Walmart.}
• Scrapbook paper {We used a $5 pad of spring colors I’d gotten at Big Lots some time ago.}
• Felt {We picked three colors for 23 cents a sheet at Walmart. 69 cents.}
• Acrylic sealer {We used the Mod Podge brand because it was the best deal and was about $6.}
• Scrissors/X-acto knife
• Glue
• Paint brush
• Ribbon to tie around finished sets of coasters

 

I cut all the paper into 3.5-inch squares. Cate painted the tiles with Mod Podge before adding the paper and then applying more Mod Podge over the top of the paper. We let those dry for several hours before applying the spray-on acrylic sealer.

I cut the felt into small squares for each corner of each coaster. If you’re keeping up, that means I cut 128 squares of felt. We used a few different glues before we figured out using my scrapbooking Xyron sticker maker was the best adhesive. Second best was regular Elmer’s glue {like Cate has in the picture above}, if you don’t have scrapbooking tools sitting around.

We raided my scrapbooking ribbon supply and used some pinks and blues to tie up the finished sets of coasters. You can see she’s proud of our creations, and, truthfully, she did a ton of the work. She even knows which seats she wants to go to each grandma and aunt.

Crafty friends, what Christmas projects do you have going on?

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