Tile Coasters

Made by Dana and Megan, with love.

Dana's Story:
My best friend for over a decade recently moved with her boyfriend to a new apartment.  I wanted to give them a home-warming gift to celebrate.  I noticed that they had a set of four coasters.  Although they were nice, they were quite plain and had to be carried from room to room as it was their only set.  I found this awesome post on Pintrest and knew instantly that this was it!  I made four for her (ideally for the living room) and four for him (for his gaming room).
We used a slightly different technique for each set.  One set, we simple used a patterned scrapbook paper and used a solid colored card stock for the boarder.  Since the design of their home is very clean-cut and modern, we chose to go along with their color scheme and use a shiny silver floral scrapbook paper with a maroon boarder.  This combination looked so classy and sharp.  On the other set, we cut shapes out of card-stock using an X-acto knife to form characters and layered the shapes to get the desired look.  I thought that since her boyfriend loves to play video games (we're kind of a nerdy bunch), we would make him coasters with four of the cutest Pokemon characters out there!  It took a long time to get the characters to look just how we wanted.  Being the picky, perfectionists we are, we think that a great outcome is worth the time and effort!  It would have been so much easier if we could have just printed a picture from the internet and plopped that on the tile and called it a day.  However, I read somewhere that if you use a picture with ink, the ink could smear.  Plus, that's boring!  Don't be a afraid to get creative, people!
So here is everything you'll be needed to create these adorable coasters:

Supplies
Mod Podge

*Matte or Gloss non-outdoor Mod Podge will also work, but outdoor provides extra waterproofness (if that's a word!)

Acrylic/Polyurethane Spray (Clear and Water-resistant)


Scrapbook paper/Card Stock

Character picture

Sponge brush


Felt Pads


X-acto knife


Cutting board

Pencil


Sharpie Permanent Ink Pen - Fine Point Black


Scissors


Tracing Paper


Glue stick/tape


Ceramic Tiles 4" x 4" (duh! we almost forgot this!)

Procedure

1a) Prepare your paper (scrapbook paper)

• If you are using a patterned paper as your design, draw the outline of the tile on the back of the paper.
• Cut the paper out, slightly smaller than the line.  *If you plan to add a boarder, you may want to crop the paper a little bit smaller, still.
• Boarder: Draw the outline of the tile on the back of the paper.  Cut out the paper the exact size as the top of the tile.  Determine how thick you want the boarder to be (we chose 1.5 cm).  Measure the distance in and excise the middle with an X-acto knife (don't forget to cut on your cutting board!) leaving the boarder in one piece.

1b) Prepare your paper (image)

• If you are creating a character/object on your tile, print out the character.  I found a coloring page of the characters we used for free online.  These are perfect for tracing.  Save the picture to your computer.  Paste the image to a word document.  Crop off as much white space around the character as possible.  In image properties, make the longest part of the character (either height or width) no larger than 3.5".  This size fits nicely on the tile while leaving room around the character.  Print the image.  Place tracing paper on top of the printed image and trace.  
• Next, it is time to cut out some pieces.  For the Pikachu™, we cut out the yellow shape of the body by placing the tracing paper on top of the yellow card stock and cut through both papers with the X-acto knife.  If you would prefer, you may want to cut the traced outline out with scissors, retrace it onto the card stock, and then cut the shape out of the card stock.  The first method is faster, but the second is a little easier (we did it both ways, actually). 
• Once you have the main color piece, begin cutting out the details. At this point on the Pikachu™, we cut out the black tips of the ears, the striping on the back that is visible on the side, the color detail on the base of the tail, the cheeks, the mouth, and the eyes.  These will be layered on top of the base color. 
• For another look, try cutting the shapes for the accents out of the base piece and putting the desired color underneath to make it peak through.  We did this for the mouth piece to make it appear set back.
• Cut the paper to go under the main piece a little larger than the cutout.
• Glue the accent paper onto the bottom of the main piece.  (Having pieces attached before added them to the tile will make life easier)
• Use a marker to draw details, like the separating line that separates the arm from the head and tail on Pikachu™.  We also, very carefully, outlined the entire body of the characters by touching the marker to the edges of the paper cutouts.

2) Mod Podge  

• Dip your wedged, foam brush into the mod podge (you may want to pour some into a disposable cup). 
• Brush a thin, even layer onto the tile. 
• Lay the paper onto the tile.  Important: You have just a few seconds to adjust the paper, but try not to shift it too much or you will see unevenness in your mod podge.
• Smooth out the paper as well as you can by pressing down lightly with the tip of your X-acto knife or tweezers on in order to eliminate air bubbles.  You can also pop them with the point of your knife before it starts to dry.
• Let dry 15-20 minutes (as instructed on mod podge bottle).
• Paint on another layer of mod podge onto the tile and on top of the image in smooth, even strokes.  
• Continue to add layers of mod podge, allowing them to dry in between. 
• If you have a lot of accent pieces, you may want to add only a few each layer.  This is easy as the mod podge will dry too quickly to add several little pieces.
• Add at least 5 layers total.  We did several extra for good measure.
• Note: The direction you paint the mod podge matters! Streaking will be visible once the mod podge hardens.  If you want the lines in one direction, be sure always paint the mod podge in the same direction, either up and down or right and left.  If you go both ways, the finished product will still look great, but different.  We went in one direction only on one set and both directions on the other.  Both ways look good.

3) Acrylic Spray

• After several layers of mod podge and drying over night, spray the acrylic sealer onto the tiles.  On the spray we used, the instructions on the can said to spray in even, slightly overlapping lines from left to right.  Basically, spray even lines, and not all willy-nilly.  The smell of paint was pretty strong so make sure you are well ventilated (ideally outside).  
• Apply a couple coats, allowing for drying time in between.  

4) Felt Pads

• Once the tiles are dry, flip them over and stick four felt circles onto the bottom, one on each corner.

5) Dry

• Give the tiles several days to really settle (and stop smelling like acrylic) before you use them or give them as a gift.  Then, enjoy your beautiful new coasters!
• The second picture didn't come out too well.  The boarders are maroon with a mirror-like center with a painted-looking flower pattern.

My friends loved their gifts and were very impressed!  They receive plenty of compliments from friends and family.  This project was so much fun that we can't wait to make more.  We hope you enjoy making your own personal coasters!

Click here for original Pintrest post link