Engagement Coasters - DIY Photo to Tile Coasters

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Happy Thursday, friends! It's been a while since I posted something DIY (though most of it seems to relate to weddings, nowadays...), so I wanted to pop in on this wonderful, warm Thursday morning and show you something fun and fancy.

I wanted to share with you an awesome gift I got from my cousin, Clara. She gave this to me after I got engaged, and it has been such a fun and exciting thing to have in my home.

On the day of our engagement, we had a bunch of pictures taken. I gave Clara access to the images online, and she surprised me by transferring the images onto a set of coasters.

One of my favorite things about these coasters is that they are lined on the bottom with felt. My fiance and I have a few furniture pieces that are mid century modern (not just the style - they're actually vintage), so we try to be very careful about not scratching the wood.

Another tip from Clara: The "tile sealer" mentioned in the tutorial below is not cheap (it will run you around $30). Instead of buying that for one project, she just bought clear waterproof rustoleum, and they're holding up perfectly.

Ready to make your own? Here's the tutorial she used!

QUESTIONS:

• What was the cutest hand-made gift you've ever received?

GRATITUDE: 
Dear Chicago,
Thank you for finally being kind of warm. And thanks for doing it on a Thursday, so that Friday Eve can already feel like the beginning of the weekend. You're so sneaky, Chicago.
Love,
Carly

DIY Decor | Leather Coasters

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After overhauling my bedroom headboard using a thick leather-esque fabric, we had a whoolleeeelotta leftovers. It ended up in bow bracelets and cuff bracelets (and leather coasters, oh my!)...

Then, one fateful night, I stayed up for far too long making a camera bag for my mom. Somehow, that small exposure to a sewing machine gave me confidence in my sewing abilities, leading me to stay up even longer to make Justin these leather coasters for his apartment.

These are pretty easy. Of all things craft-and-food related, I am especially unskilled when it comes to sewing (something about fine motor skills and patience... not a good combination for this gal). And so, my friends, as they say in Kindergarten... If I can do it, you can do it! (They do say that... right?)

I started by deciding how large to make the coasters. I decided to go with 3.5in by 3.5in. Larger coasters would work but I wouldn't go much smaller than that.

The lines in this fabric made cutting fairly simple, but make sure that all your pieces are the same size. Don't get too overwhelmed by this detail, though -- you can always trim them after sewing.

I was worried that the two pieces would slip-and-slide while I sewed them together so I decided to start with a bit of super glue. I gave them a healthy dose of glue in the middle and then dotted a bit on the outside. Be careful not to go too overboard with superglue on the outside edges or you may end up trying to sew through super-dried-and-hard-glue.

Once the glue dried, I went around all 4 corners with white thread.

And the finished product was quite pretty..

Am I totally crazy or are these actually fairly manly? I'm sensing a fabulous man-gift movement right here. Valentine's Day? Birthday? Christmas?

Psst! If you're digging these coasters, you might also dig these Scrabble Coasters. Check them out! :)

Scrabble Coasters

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A few months ago, I (intentionally) destroyed a game of Scrabble in order to make hallway art using the names of everyone in my family.

Whats-a-girl-ta-do-with-half-a-scrabble-game?

Mmmmmake coasters! Duh!

 

I tried to make sure that each coaster had at least one "inspirational" or "fun" 4 letter word - such as HOPE and LOVE above - but ended up with a few gems thrown in there too (like Fern, Aura, and Ador). Probably a good idea to scan your coaster before you start gluing to make sure you don't have any offensive words or expletives. 

Here's my work space. Go figure, there I am, drinking coffee, coaster-less! I was prepared with a hot glue gun, about 3 tubes of super glue, and an old W magazine.

One at a time, I transferred each scrabble tile to the W magazine. The first tile got glued down, but after that, instead of focusing the glue on the magazine (which would give you a flimsy coaster), I glued them to each other (which also glued them to the magazine in the process).

After they were done, I flipped them over and used an exacto knife to cut off the magazine at the edges (but the bottom of each coaster still features a page from W Magazine).

In the end, I must say, this was quite a pretty project! It should take around 30 minutes, provided that you're not clumsy like me (I glued my fingers together once, no lie).

I tied them up in twine and sent them off to a fellow coffee-and-tea-drinking-friend in Texas!

 

So how about everyone else? I've got leftover scrabble tiles... what shall I do?! I'm envisioning a necklace or more art. Thoughts? Anyone have a link to a good scrabble project? :)