Quick and Easy Stamped Coasters

The Captain's office staff makes his job easier, so I like to bribe them show my appreciation by making something for them.  This year I was stumped ; I've made notebooks, tags, ornaments - now what?  Coasters!  Quick, easy and useful - what's not to like?



I use these unglazed tiles from Home Depot.  They come 9 to a pack and cost about 65 cents a tile.

First, wipe off the stone dust with a damp paper towel and allow to dry completely.  Here they are all wiped down and drying.

Then, stamp onto tile.  I use StazOn black ink for the main image and red for a spot of color.  Since the tiles are natural stone the surface is uneven, so images with clean lines and not much detail seem to work best.  The exception is an all-over script stamp - since we're going for design, not legibility, it works!    For some reason I had problems with the black ink on my clear stamps.  Red rubber ones inked fine with the black StazOn (a brand-new pad), but the clear ones didn't.   No problem with the red StazOn - anyone have any ideas? 

You need to use a fair amount of pressure to stamp the uneven surface.  Sometimes it works easier to place the tile on the stamp instead of stamping onto the tile.  I suggest buying a few extra tiles for the occasional "oops".  Actually, some of those "oops" can be fixed by a strategically placed accent image! 

Here's are the tiles all stamped.

Next some feet to protect furniture.  I cut little squares out of sticky-back felt.  I have used small felt furniture pad circles, but they are a bit too fat .  The sticky-back felt is much thinner and the coasters don't look like they're perched on stilts!

Then a couple of light sprays of clear acrylic to protect the stamped image and coasters are done.

A few of the stamped designs:

Happy Stamping!