Bird Tile Coasters

Most of my creative gift projects for Jennifer end in disaster and the purchase of something made or provided by someone more skilled than me. Today, however, I’d like to share a rare success I had last Christmas. After coming back from our apartment complex dumpster with a discarded piece of countertop to sell on Craigslist, I headed to Home Depot to figure out what kind of material it was. When the countertop guy sent me home with a small square countertop sample, I had an idea: I could use them as coasters. I planned to collect free samples from different stores until I had enough for a set of coasters. As attractive (by “attractive” I mean “cheap”) as that was, I eventually decided it wasn’t the best idea, so I ended up purchasing eight 3″ x 3″ tiles on clearance at Lowe’s. I think I paid 4¢ apiece.

To transform the clearance tiles into coasters, I glued small squares of felt in each corner of the underside of the tiles with white glue. To transform them into chic coasters, I decided to top them with bird silhouettes cut out of patterned scrapbook paper. This was, after all, at the height of the chubby-bird craze that left avian forms on everything from lampshades to necklaces. For a template I traced a bird on our Urban Outfitters kitchen towel and set about cutting cute little birdies out of surplus scrapbook paper. To affix the birds to the tiles I used simple white glue. I then brushed on two coats of water-based polyacrylic to waterproof the coasters. Ever since the finish coat dried the bird coasters have adorned our end tables and desks and protected them from the massive amounts of tea, diet coke and lemonade that we drink.

Supplies
3″ x 3″ tiles
White glue
Felt
Scrapbook paper
Polyacrylic (or polyurethane)

1. Buy 3″ x 3″ tiles.

2. Glue a small square of felt in each corner on the underside of the tile.

3. Print, trace or copy a template of your favorite silhouette.

4. Cut the silhouette out of scrapbook paper.

5. Glue paper silhouette to tiles with white glue.

6. Apply 2 coats of polyacrylic to the top of the tile.

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