Photo coasters as gifts

[CraftyDiem]

Our daughter is the first grandchild on both sides.  Both my husband and I have parents who are divorced and remarried.  Thus my daughter has four SETS of grandparents and two sets of great-grandparents, and three aunts.

So for Christmas every year I have made ornaments with her photo on them in one way or another.  This year I was hoping for something different but still easy enough to be mass produced!  We decided to make photo coasters since it seemed relatively simple and would make a great gift.  It also met the most important criteria - CHEAP!   

There are loads of tutorials out there for this but it's pretty self explanatory once you have the materials.  We bought a box of 100 white 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 bathroom tiles from home depot for $16 (we only used 60 and could return the rest if we were so motivated), some Satin finish polyurethane (the small container was more than enough) $6, 60 photos (10 sets of 6) from King Soopers @ $.10 a print $6.  We had Mod Podge, paint brushes, a paper cutter, and plastic for the table.  I bought baskets from the dollar store for each set ($10).  The cost of the tiles was $.47 each so for a set of six with a $1 basket it was under $4.00 each set.  The look on their faces when they opened it?  Priceless. 

Enough talk - on to the pics!

You've got to love a craft that a three year old can help with!






Husband asked, "This stuff dries clear, right?"


Yup.


And ready for wrapping:

[I Sew Cute]

This is so wicked cool! I love it!

[graced]

These are so cute! I can see them for vacation photos/my mom's favorite snaps of her flowers, etc., as well as grandkid shots.

Quick questions:
did you use thin cork or felt for the back so it wouldn't scratch the table?

you put the mod podge on the tile, then the photo, then sealed with the polyurethane? I think mod podge on top might bubble back into white modpodge if it was on top?

[CraftyDiem]

Quick questions:
did you use thin cork or felt for the back so it wouldn't scratch the table?

you put the mod podge on the tile, then the photo, then sealed with the polyurethane? I think mod podge on top might bubble back into white modpodge if it was on top?

Yes - I forgot!  They have felt circles on the back from Home Depot.  I think they came in a package of 120 for $4 but they were all different sizes.  We just tried to make sure each set had the same size circles.  I was thinking these would be great with some cute scrap paper too!

We did mod podge on the tile, then put down the photo, then two more coats of mod podge, then two coats of polyurethane.  I think as long as you let everything dry in between coats you should be fine. 

[graced]

Excellent! Thank you! Now I just need to start making a stockpile of photos for the overload of June birthdays in my family!