If you haven’t tried making these before, you really should. They make super cute gifts – that people can actually use – plus you can use up scraps of paper you have sitting around your craft room.

I bought the tiles at my local Bunnings store (for those non-Aussie’s Bunnings is a local hardware store). I had originally gone looking for some bisque tiles to stamp on, but when I couldn’t find any, I decided to try this paper / decoupage technique. The tiles had a gloss finish but matt would work just as well. They measured 97mm square.

I cut DSP into squares that measured 92mm square, and then it was just a matter of sticking them down with Mod Podge. I used a foam brush to add a layer of Mod Podge directly to the tile and to the paper and then stuck the paper down. Get it square and then make sure there aren’t any air bubbles. I found that by putting the Mod Podge on both the tile and the paper the paper was less likely to pull up at the edges.

After letting it dry I then added another coat of Mod Podge. You don’t want to leave any big globby bits on there, but I found you didn’t have to worry about brush marks as it dried clear. I repeated this 3 – 4 times, and then let them dry for about 4 – 6 hours (or just leave them overnight). Finally I finished with a coat of spray sealant. I left them to dry overnight and then did a second sealant coat in the morning. No real reason for the second coat but I thought it wouldn’t hurt.

I made 10 coasters in total. Four were made using paper from the Color Theory paper stack, and I think we’ll keep this set at home. The second set consisted of two coasters made with some Japanese paper printed with macarons that a friend gave me. This paper is gorgeous. It’s delicate to work with as it’s thin, but they finished up looking great. The final set of four used the coffee break DSP, particularly fitting for a drinks coaster I thought. This set was made for a friend of mine as part of a 3D swap I recently participated in. Hope she likes them 😀

The photos all have a bit of glare in them I’m afraid – my set up for taking photos isn’t exactly pro, in fact it consists of my phone and garden ledge outside 🙂 But you get idea I’m sure.