DIY: Tile Drink Coasters

Have you ever had an idea that makes you go, "oh hot damn, WHY did I not think of this before?!" Um, well, that epiphany has happened in our house. 

You see, we had decorated tiles before. This is nothing new to me. The tiles we decorated were from a pottery shop and were not glazed so it was super easy to keep the paint from scratching off (hello Paint Sealer, it's me, Becca)

Like I said, this was years ago and I have not found a shop here that does pottery (to be quite fair, I haven't even looked...) so I went to the next, well, next-next-next best thing: Home Depot. The 4x4 Glossy Tiles were 13¢?!?! Um, what?! I remember paying like $5/tile... Damn starving artists lol. Sooooo, I bought 16. I had an idea for the boys to paint coasters as Christmas gifts for the grandparents- they love that stuff! Then, I saw the 6x6 Glossy Tiles for 48¢ and I just had to get those too... Pot holeders?? 

And I thought, "man, I'm awesome". Apparently, little man already knew this. 

(This was at Costco, but he's still adorable)

Anyways... While you're at HD, grab a can of Glossy Sealer bc you'll need that too...

I am using the sealer I have left over from my furniture redo so I skipped out on buying this. So let's recap what all you'll need:

NEED:

• 4x4 or 6x6 tile(s)

• paint/ sharpees for decorating (you can even use glitter)

• Q-tips

• Paint Brushes

• Paint Sealer

• Felt (for the bottom)

• Scissors

• Hot Glue / Mod Podge / Super Glue

• Something to paint on

• a congratulatory glass of wine and maybe some eggless cookie dough...

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Cover your work area. Not kidding. Anything that involves children with paint will result in a HUGE mess. 

Case and point... This is the aftermath. 

2) Strip your kids. Or at least put them in clothes you really don't care about. Kids. Are. Messy. 

And to think, he was clean just a minute ago...

3) Use a Q-tip to paint and watch the masters at work... Unless you forget to take your brushes out of the art bin and the boys get to them... Oh well. It is water based so it came out of everything (except the shirt lol). We used a combination of craft paint and sharpees. Since I am an artist, I have tons of random art goodies on hand at any given time. It's a curse, but the boys love making masterpieces so it's worth it. 

They are so cute. Jman DOES have on undies btw. Even though he likes to whip out his penis in the open flap and dance around... I just don't understand boys. I'm serious...

Back to the coasters:

We made some with hand prints, but most without. Overall, they looked great and I didn't help out as much as I wanted to. For real, being a perfectionist is a curse. The struggle is real folks!

4) Let Paint/ Sharpee dry for at least an hour. This is just a precaution. Acrylic paint (and ESP craft paint) dries in about 10 min. Ours took a little longer bc the boys made Paint Mounds. Who am I to mess with the vision? Lol. Use this time to give your kids a bath. The craft paint peels off very easily, but I would do a shower first until almost everything is off- DO NOT SCRUB - that shit hurts! If it doesn't come off easily, let them soak in the tub for a few minutes and then wash it off. We did a bubble bath. I got more of a bath than the boys and I was on the outside of the tub. Awesomeness. 

As a punishment, I made Cinderella I and II clean the floor on their hands and knees! Mwahahahahahahahah. I'm totally kidding, they actually love to clean (not to be confused with picking up toys and putting them away bc they hate that. I'm talking about wiping down surfaces and vacuuming. Which I'll gladly take.)

5) wait til the kids go to bed and apply 1 coat of Paint Sealer. It really only needs one coat. Let that dry over night. 

6) Cut felt & glue it on to each tile. Do this by laying the tile on top of the felt, tracing it, then cutting it out. The tiles have lines on the bottom, so hot glue, glue or mod podge on those lines. Hot glue is easier (IMO) bc it dries super fast stays on! Also, glue around the perimeter of the tile so there's no chance of it coming up!

7) Have a drink and pat yourself on the back! You did it. You're amazing. You're probably going to be giving the best presents your parents have ever received from your children. I know mine are going to love it. I mean how can they not?! They're GRANDPARENTS and my children are gifted! Hahahaha

Good luck!!!

DIY: Burlap Wreath- Tutorial

Burlap Wreath (method 2)

If you follow my FB page (MOOSEink), then you saw another wreath I made. If not, here's a picture (sorry, but I'm not using my Canon, just the iPhone so the colors are not amazing... Nor the quality. Don't judge) 

This wreath used a similar method to the one I made tonight. Once I find the link to the blog I used, I will insert it here. 

Ok, onto the tutorial. 

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

•18" wire wreath ($5 @Michael's)

•10yd burlap ($7 @Michael's unless you buy on sale... Which I did!! Woo-hoo for $2.50!!)

•7-10yd deco mesh (I had a coupon but I think it was $5 @Michael's)

•5-10yd ribbon (I used some left over fabric I bought to make a scarf)

• roll of twine/thin ribbon/yarn -or- 18 pipe cleaners

In this tutorial, I used yarn bc I ran out of pipe cleaners and I was SOOOO not going back to Michael's. But Becca, how did you run out of pipe cleaners? Didn't you buy a bag that had roughly 100? Yes, yes I did. As a matter of fact, they were all present and accounted for before I ran to Michael's this morning and left the boys with my very capable husband. Somehow, in a 2 hour time span, I went from having a little over 80 pipe cleaners, down to 4. Where are the others? Hmmm, good question. They are probably hanging out with my missing hair dryer attachment and remotes. I will find them in 18-months when we move. Until then, I'm McGuyver-ing it with yarn. 

Sooooo, if you're like me and have a ton of yarn just laying around and want to use that... Go for it. If you're using yarn, cut 36 pieces. If you're using pipe cleaners, get out 18. Yarn in bold; pipe cleaners in Italics. 

Yarn: 2 strands at a time, double knot the yarn to the inside of the wire wreath, making sure there is equal length on both sides. 1 per section. Do the same for the outside. 

PC: Loop PC through wreath, making sure there is equal length on both sides. Twist once. Start with inside. 1 per section. Do the same for the outside. 

And that just screams to my boys, "YOU MUST TOUCH ME NOW AND SWING ME AROUND UNTIL YOU HURT ONE ANOTHER AND DRIVE YOUR MOTHER INSANE!!" So, I waited til they went to bed. Apologies. 

Next: Start in the innermost wire: take your burlap and tie it with a double knot -or- twist once 

Add the deco mesh, using the same technique. 

Fantastic. Now, grab about a hand's length down from where you attached your initial piece of mesh/burlap and tie it or twist it together on the next section. 

If you are using the yarn, it'll feel loose. If you are using PC, you won't have to work as hard to make it secure. Continue this process all the way around the innermost wire and then attach your mesh/burlap to the outermost wire. 

Starting to see it coming together? Keep it up! Using the same process as the inner circle, attach the mesh/burlap to the outer circle. 

You will have some left over. A lot, actually. If you are like me and hate to waste any fabric, ever, continue on. If you don't mind wasting, the you can stop and move on to the ribbon part. 

All others, here you go. 

Using the same technique, make the mesh/burlap go in between the two circles and attach using BOTH yarn strands -or- PC from the outermost and innermost parts of the wreath. 

It's a freaking CRAZY concept, but i'm telling yeah try it. Continue through the middle circle and tie off at the end.

Looks good doesn't it? Now flip it over and tie the strings together or twist the PC around.

Now you can stop or you can add ribbon. I had leftover fabric and decided to try using that. I did not like how the strings left very noticeable areas on the wreath (even after I fluffed it), so I used my fabric to hide the visible string. Turn your wreath so the right side is facing you...I weaved the fabric over the string and then under it for each section, making sure I kept my fabric in the middle circle. I ended up having to cut two strips of fabric and tie them onto the wreath. You can do that or you can use hot glue. Or you can be really crazy and do both. 

Go all the way around the wreath and then tie off OR make a bow. I opted for a bow, but I might end up stitching together my fabric with my left over deco mesh to make the bow stand out a bit more. Who knows. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, yes. That is probably what I'm going to do.  

And there you have it. Fluff out each portion to make it appear bigger. Add cute things to it too- just know, that's typically where these things get expensive... And if you can see through your wreath in some areas, don't worry, no one is going to notice the wire from the street. Go pour yourself a glass of wine and have your husband, boyfriend, girlfriend or whomever witness your awesomeness. For real, you deserve a pat on the back. 

If you make a wreath using this technique, please, leave a picture on my FB page!! I want to see them all!!