Round Robin - Ceramic Tile Coasters - Easy Inexpensive Gift

It's Round Robin time with Amy @
Keeping Up With The Schultz Family!

I decided to get my Scrooge butt into the Christmas Spirit and make some gifties - ceramic tile coasters! Awesome for teachers, bus drivers, etc.



And they are seriously so cheap and easy! Ok, cheap and easy doesn't sound very nice. How about... inexpensive and near-effortless...?

We'll do the $$ breakdown at the end but first let's get started.

Here's what I used and where I got it from:



~ 4 x 4 ceramic tiles (Lowe's)

~ Mod Podge (craft store)

~ paper napkins (I'm going with a Wintery theme - dollar store)

~ polyurethane (Lowe's - cheaper there than at the craft store)

~ felt circles (Lowe's - you could also use cork, or even cut your own from scrap felt if you've got it. There's cheaper ways to go here, but I'm lazy.)

~ pretty ribbon (dollar store - you could also use raffia)

~ some sort of embellishment (I'm using blue snowflake ornaments from the dollar store - you could really use anything you'd like)


I wanted to do something seasonal but not everyone has Christmas, so I went with a Winter/Snowflake thing. Here in Michigan you could keep these out for nearly half the year!

But you could do this with any paper napkin design, any ribbon/raffia/etc., any embellishment and really make a zillion sets, all unique.

First thing, as you can see, you open the paper napkin up, and you have four panels to use. I'm doing the coasters in a set of four, so you only need one napkin for the whole set. So, cut those apart.


Using a foam brush, spread Mod Podge all over the tile, including all the side edges. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you! Clean off your tiles before you do anything. They are dusty!



Then, place your napkin on the tile and spread gently (the paper napkin will tear if you get all crazy with it!) from the center outward. But, really, don't worry about any wrinkles or anything, it actually looks good like that!

Make sure you bring the napkin down around the sides.

You should work on wax paper so that nothing you don't want to stick gets stuck.



After you let it dry for about 5 - 10 minutes, tear the excess paper off the tiles, pulling downward. Again, you really don't need to be all that careful... I told you - easy!!

I just seal the edges down, but if they bother you, use sandpaper to file it off at the bottom edges of the tile.



And here you have it...


The next step is to apply three coats of polyurethane. Be sure to let the coats dry completely in between or you'll have a goopy mess. And by completely, I recommend overnight!

I sit the tiles on plastic cups so that I can rotate it around and get to the sides and right under the edges really good and not touch anything cuz polyurethane is nasty stuff. And flammable! Duh! So just be careful. Don't leave your craft table and go fire up the bbq, mmkay?


After everything's all dry, turn your coasters over and stick on the felt circles.



Stack your coasters, wrap with a ribbon and add your embellishment!

Viola!



So... I told you all about the easy. Now I'm gonna tell you all about the cheap!

Now, this is assuming you don't even have adhesive or polyurethane on hand, which I did. But, even if you don't, still cheap!

Here's the breakdown:



I bought 48 tiles @ 16 cents each - enough to make 12 sets of coasters - $7.68

Mod Podge - $3.00

Polyurethane - $6.00

Felt circles - $2.00

Paper napkins - $1.00

Ribbon (2) - $2.00

Snowflake ornaments (2 packs) - $2.00

Total = $23.68


For 12 gifts! So that's... $1.97 each!!!


The easiest and most adorable ever way to package these are to give your kid a handful of plain paper lunch bags to decorate with stamps, stickers, markers, whatever. This will keep them busy for a little bit too! Bonus!

Put your gift in with a piece of cute tissue paper. Fold over the top of the bag, punch two holes, thread some pretty ribbon or raffia through, add a gift tag and tie!


Whadda ya think?



Thanks to Amy for hosting!