Anything But a Card Friday with Candace

Hi there! It's Candace! Today I have a fun and EASY project for you that would make an awesome gift. 

I am going to show you how to make Alcohol Ink Coasters. I love the Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks. They are a really fun medium to work with. I've made domino magnets and Christmas ornaments with them in the past, and when I was picking my Mama's brain for ideas on what to do for my ABC Friday post, she suggested that I make these coasters. This was my first time making them, and I will definitely be making more! 

You will need:

ceramic tiles

alcohol inks

sponge dauber with the white felt pads (one pad per color)

felt or cork for the bottom of your coasters

stamp set of your choice

StazOn Ink

A few notes about the supplies - I picked up my ceramic tiles at Home Depot for 16 cents a piece. Steal!! At that cost, I'll definitely be making some of these for little Christmas gifts! You can use any color alcohol inks you wish. I had fun experimenting with all of the different colors I had on hand, but I realized that my stamped image showed up a lot better on the lighter colors. Also, it's very important that you use the Staz-On ink because it is permanent, and you don't want your glass to cause the ink to run. 

First, put a few (okay, more than a few) drops of alcohol ink on your dauber. 

Start dabbing it all over the coaster. If you still have white space, and the color isn't transferring anymore, add a few more drops of ink to the pad. You really can't mess these up. Each one will turn out differently, and that's what's so great about them. The more you sponge it, the splotchier it will be. These dried really fast. Give it a few minutes to completely dry before you stamp it. 

Next, ink up the stamp of your choice with some StazOn ink. Notice I have my StazOn cleaner ready so that I don't ruin my stamps! I used the Bloom stamp set for this project. 

                           

Stamp your image onto the coaster. Notice that it shows up really well on the lighter color. This shade is Mushroom. 

You can finish them by cutting a piece of felt or cork to size and adhering it to the bottom, but I didn't do that with this set. I want to use cork, and I need to pick some up this weekend. :) I just tied them up with a pretty bow, and it makes a lovely gift! 

Like I said earlier, I had fun experimenting with all of the different colors. You could customize these to someone's home decor. You could make them all the same or a mixture like the set shown above. I made all of my coasters a solid color, but try using a few different colors on the same coaster! I did a turquoise one with a little silver mixed in, and it turned out really neat! Most of all, just have fun! 

That's it for my project today. Tomorrow I'll have a Stampbook Saturday post for you, so stop back by! It's been awhile since I did a scrapbook page, so we'll just have to see what I come up with! :)

Oh, and I almost forgot...the winner of my stick pin giveway is...

#6 - Sue D!! 

Sue, I'll be emailing you soon to get your address to send you the stick pins. Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments on that post. 

-Candace