Tile Coasters

I had an afternoon to come up with a housewarming gift for someone I barely knew. I had no idea what this person's decorating style, color palette or needs were. So, I went to Cricut! Doesn't everyone love what comes from the Cricut? Here's what I came up with!

These coasters started out as plain stone tiles purchased loosely from home Depot. There was a set of 9 in the box and I paid less than $4 for the box. I made a set of 4. This will leave me with enough tiles to make a second gift at another time.

To get started, I washed my stones off as I have found that when I have worked with natural stones, as opposed to ceramic tiles, there is a lot more dust that interfere with the adhering of the vinyl. I cut my "H" at 3" from the Opposites Attract cart. After placing the vinyl, I covered it with a layer of Modge Podge. Finally, I put these clear nubbies on the bottom. The nubbies are actually designed and sold for the purpose of keeping cabinet doors from slamming. All in all, I have $5 tied up in this project.

The best part: When my hostess received her gift, she was thrilled. Their new home is much larger, and they had just bought a new table for a new sitting area, but were in need of coasters. She was thrilled. So was I.

Wedding Tile

May is by far much busier than December ever thought of being! To add to an already full calendar, I have been getting ready for a friend's wedding that the whole family was asked to be a part of. So while I have actually been doing a lot of crafting and sewing, I've not had a chance to post any of it.

As the maid of honor for the wedding, I had to prepare a toast. Being the chatty one that I am, I made sure I wrote out my speech beforehand in order to keep the toast short. As part of the speech before the toast, I had a bible verse that I felt was particularly applicable to this couple. I used the Cricut to cut the verse from vinyl, along with the couples name and wedding date. I have learned that I must modge podge over the tiles or else the vinyl letters lift with time. This particular font was the "upright" from the "Opposites Attract" cartridge. On the back I tried something new. I modge-podged on a sheet of scrapbook paper to cover up the ugly back. Then I printed out a copy of the speech/toast to put on the back as well. I loved the way doing both sides of the tile turned out. I think the bride could even flip the tile over to the back and display that side if she ever wanted. Much better than the plain ugly back or adding just felt or cork!

Mastercard Commercial Quality Gifts

I needed new gift ideas for teachers & friends who had already received my standard glass light block (see previous blog post). So, I came up with these tiles, which I already had in my basement left over from some past projects. I used the Opposites Attract Critcut cartridge to cut the letters for the Girl Scout Tiles. The Girl Scout sayings are part of the Girl Scout Law. The teacher's tile was adapted from a plaque I saw in a store that was actually intended for families. I used the Plantin School catridge to cut my letters and the Locker Talk cartrisge to cut my globe.

A couple of thoughts if you are going to do these projects yourself. The multi-colored tile is unsealed slate. Even though I washed the slate before I added my lettering, I still had difficulty getting the lettering to stick. After laying my letter down, I used modge podge on the whole tile, using a criss-cross motion so that in case any streaking showed, it would look intentional. This sealed both the lettering and my tile. There was some slight show of the modge podge, but the criss cross pattern actually made it look professionally painted.

Need help with sentiments for your tiles? Go shopping! Premade greeting cards, plaques at local hobby stores and home furnishing sections. You can find so much online as well. Then personalize the sentiment in some way. Making something you can't buy anywhere else will make your inexpensive gifts priceless. Isn't that what makes the Mastercard commercials so great??? 1 tile: $.90. Vinyl lettering: $2. Stand: $3.99. A gift made only for them, priceless!