Coaster Continued

Thanks to everyone that had so many fantastic comments on my coasters the other day. I've received a lot of emails and PM's from Splitcoast with questions so I thought I'd write a more detailed post.

Before I go any further, I want to thank my friend, and fellow demo Kathy who answered all these questions for ME when I did this project. All I know on this subject, I owe to Kathy! Also, if any of you readers have advice to add, please let me know and I'll add it to this post!

Secondly, be sure to check out the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers by Gina K. I LOVE her butterfly version with Stazon inks.

Here's how I did mine....

I purchased my tiles at Lowes, they are a tumbled marble tile. I liked the aged finish, you just want to inspect the box to make sure that they don't have any major cracks or missing corners. Before we stamped them, I dusted them off with a cloth, because they are really dusty!

For the "Baroque Motifs" set, we stamped the large swirl background in stazon leaving one corner empty to add a sentiment. Then we stamped the smallest flower in the set in Rose Red craft ink from Stampin Up. Added a sentiment (I used the Warm Words set, or the "Cherish" or "kind" from Baroque motifs) Some participants used the craft ink for this, some used the Timber Brown Stazon.

For the"Wild Rose"tiles we used Rose Red and Old Olive craft inks from StampinUp. This set has a solid image and a coordinating outline image for all the pieces. We inked the solid flower with rose red craft, then stamped off once on scratch paper to soften the color. Then stamped it onto the tile. Then, we inked up the outline image in Rose Red, lined it up right over the solid flower and stamped the tile. For the flowers, we stamped the solid background directly, we didn't bother with the outline step, but you could if you wanted to. The sentiments (same as for the Baroque version) were stamped in Timber Brown Stazon ink.

I had the participants leave the tiles with me overnight. The next day, I set my oven to 250 degrees and got cookin! I baked the tiles for 10 minutes (to heat set the Craft Ink)and then brought them outside and placed them on an old ratty sheet.

I used Patricia Nimocks Plaid Clear Acrylic Sealer that I bought at my local craft store. I applied two coats sprayed (according to the directions) 15minutes apart. This stuff is nasty strong. Please be sure to use it outside, or in an extremely well ventilated area. I was woozy during the process and I was OUTSIDE! Also,be sure to spray from a distance of at least 6 inches from the tile. On two tiles, I was too close, and the ink got all smeary... I have no idea why, but now I have to remake a few tiles, so I want to save you the trouble.

Once everything was coated and sealed and cooled I applied little felt feet (also purchased from Lowes) and they were ready to go. We made little 3x3 gift cards to go with them as I know many of my attendees will be using these for Christmas gifts.

I wish I still had the Wild Rose stamps and I'd show you photos of the step by step, but I gave them back to my friend Betsy who so kindly loaned them to me.

If there is anything else I've left unanswered please leave a comment here and I'll update the post to include more details. And, if you have any advice on this project to share, please do the same!

Thanks again for all the wonderful feedback.