Homemade Coasters and Mod Podge!

Lately, I've been incredibly eager to be crafty! Yesterday I made homemade coasters and homemade mod podge. Ahhhhhh!!! Can't you see the heavens opening up?? It was fun! Thank you Pinterest!

I bought 8 - 4x4 inch tiles at Home Depot for $.16 a piece. Score!! It was suggested to buy the white tiles, but of course, Home Depot was out of them. I bit the bullet and bought the ecru/almond color - slightly off-white.

Then, I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out my scrapbook paper. I went with a purple/green color scheme. Totally doesn't match ANYTHING in my house (except maybe my office which has a purple lamp shade), but I loved the colors and went with it. I plan on doing some more coasters because I saw so many gorgeous papers that I wanted to use.

I started my coasters by cutting out a piece of one of the sheets of scrapbook paper. I wasn't thrilled with it because 1.) I failed cutting in Kindergarten. My lines are never, ever straight. 2.) I didn't feel like I could get the correct size. So... I had an epiphany. When I got into couponing I bought a paper cutter. Ta-da! Straight lines and any size I want!! And even on all sides. So I got to cutting.

My Homemade Mod-Podge:
An old salsa jar
A bottle of glue
Water

At first I didn't mix it correctly. I put in some glue (about 1/3 of a bottle) and added a lot of water. Too watery - no good. So, I scavenged the house for more glue. I found two quarter full bottles and dumped them in. I think it is a pretty good consistency now. The recipe I found online said use equal parts glue and water. I'm sure that's about what mine came out to in the end.

I used a sponge brush and painted the glue mixture on the back of the scrapbook paper cut-outs and painted the tile itself. I laid the paper on top and then painted it with more glue mixture. I tried to use a medium thick coat on top. They dried beautifully. I repainted them probably 4-5 times letting them dry completely between each coat.

Here they are!

I saw on a blog somewhere that sometimes mod podge leaves things a little sticky and to use a spray acrylic on top of the coasters. Mine aren't sticky at all! But... I'm debating on spraying anyway to add another layer of protection against water. I'd hate for my paper to get wet.

Also, I forgot the felt feet when I bought the paper so that's not done yet either. But don't they look so neato?

Have fun!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Update:

I did decide to spray acrylic over them and they look way better. They have just a slight sheen over them now. They could probably use more acrylic, but I'm ansy and want to use them already!

Here's one that's sprayed:

Melissa