Child Made Gift: Tile Coasters

A friend of mine had some moms and daughters over the other day so we could all make homemade Christmas gifts together.  She had everything purchased and laid out so we could make sets of tile coasters- It turned out to be a simple and surprisingly inexpensive gift.

Materials:

Ceramic tiles (from the kitchen and bath section of the hardware store; they only cost about 14 cents each!)
Mod Podge
Scrapbook paper
Scissors
Foam brushes
Polyurethane (the most expensive part of the craft.  A quart costs about $16 but can make a TON of tiles)
Hair blow dryers
Adhesive cork

1.  Cut scrapbook paper to the size of the tiles.

2.  Mod podge the paper on to the tile and wait about 15 minutes for it to dry.  It's important to wait because otherwise the paper will bubble.  (I found out the hard way)
3.  Cover the paper with 3 layers of polyurethane.  Make the layers thin and smooth, and allow to dry completely between coats.  You can use a hair blow dryer to speed the drying along.  Air drying usually takes a couple of hours for each coat.  When you use the hair blow dryer it takes about 10 minutes for each coat.

4.  Cut cork for the size of the tiles, and stick onto the backs.

M was able to help with each step of the process, but it got a little tedious for her, and so she only did one or two all the way through.  I thought the coasters turned out quite nice for being something that young children can help so much with!