napkins and tiles and paint, oh my!

You've seen the napkin flower I made last week. On the same night I also painted some tiles to make easy coasters. They are really pretty. If it all works out well, I'm thinking of buying a larger tile and making a big serving coaster to match too!

The napkin flowers were super easy to make. Essentially you take a stack of napkins (I used 4 large ones, and 1 small one, but it doesn't really matter how many you use), fold them into an accordion, attach them, cut them, and open them. If that makes no sense to you, here's the full tutorial.

My coasters on the other hand, I thought would be easy.. until I decided to start making things up as I went. I only did my research after doing the craft (a little backwards thinking, I'd say). I hopped my way over to Home Depot to find some reasonable sized tiles, and bought 3 white tiles for 31 cents each (1 for each girl I'm living with, though come to think of it, 4 would have made more sense, in case of guests or just as extra. But whatever!). The tiles were very cheap, and I had to find something to put on the bottom so I bought felt pads which are way overpriced. I should have just bought a sheet of felt at Michael's and it would have been cheaper.. and Michael's isn't cheap! Research before you buy, my friends. I also wasn't sure if my paint would stick or not.. and didn't sand my tiles or anything, and had not thought to buy anything to seal it. But I did decide to invest in a $5 bottle of clear spray paint at Wal-Mart the next day. I hope it proves to be a good buy. You can do so much with spray paint! I also bought a primer and a lovely royal purple shade. How many things can I update by simply spray painting? I may also go thrift store shopping now, hehe!

This is me mixing the glue in the water (and then paint). The typography nerd in me giggled a little (okay, a lot).

The ampersand is my favourite character.. fun fact!









Easy DIY Painted Coasters

● Tiles
● Paint (I just used plain ol' craft paint I have at home)
● Water
● Craft Glue
● Clear Spraypaint (to seal in your paint)
● Felt pads, or pieces of felt and double sided tape/glue
● Q-tips (optional, for cleaning)

1. Lay out your tiles however you want to paint them.
I wanted to do a chevron pattern that would continue from one tile to another so I put them side by side and drew a slight outline using washable yellow marker.
2. Mix the paint using 1 part water, 1 part glue and 2 parts paint.
I was looking for a wet watercolour looking paint but wanted it to have a thicker papier machier consistency.. I also made this part up and don't know if it changed my result at all, but I like how it turned out. To my craftier friends, any thoughts? Does water and glue help? Or hinder?
3. Paint your design and allow to dry overnight.
I always allow things to dry overnight, I always want to make sure things are very dry before handling them, just in case.
4. Clean up messy lines.
Because I used washable craft paint, it was very easy to wipe off paint, and straighten my lines using a Q-tip and water.
5. Spray paint your tiles to seal in the colour.
Do this outside!! Never spray paint inside. I recommend you get a good rag out, or do it on the grass.
6. Once dry, attach felt pieces to the bottom of the tiles to protect your table from scratchy coasters. And you're done! Easy peasy.

Let's hope the paint doesn't scratch off too quickly! And if it does, I can redesign and reuse! How fun!