TILE COASTERS
I spend an unhealthy amount of time on Pinterest (haha), so after coming across several tutorials for DIY Tile Coasters I had to try it! I thought it looked like a very kid friendly craft (with the exception of the tutorial I saw that involved lighting the rubbing alcohol on fire - yikes!) and needed a project for the grandparent's Christmas gifts so it seemed like a great time to try it out! My kids LOVE crafting and I always try to have them make their own presents to give to their grandparents (or in this case parents too...my daughter has a corner in her bedroom that is holding a secret project that I can't see!)
For this project I picked up 4 plain white 4"x4" ceramic tiles from Lowes. The Pinterest posts I had read mentioned that washable markers will not work! Since I do not have any permanent markers (smart mom here!) I had to buy some and found a package on clearance at Walmart for $3.00. I took out the black and brown before giving them to the kids (much to my son's disappointment!) because I was going for something more colourful.
I laid out newspaper and gave each kid two coasters to colour any way they wanted.
While they were busy colouring I prepped for the next stage by finding the rubbing alcohol and an eye dropper. I also found a tiny syringe that came with a prescription years ago and for some reason I kept it, crafters keep everything LOL!
I placed each coaster on a rubbermaid lid as a preventative measure because I didn't know how messy they would get. It worked out great and I was able to move them off the table before supper without destroying them! Here is an example of two of the coasters before we added the rubbing alcohol.
Now for the fun part! Using an eye dropper (recommended for younger kids) or a syringe add small drops of rubbing alcohol and watch the "magic" happen. Both of my kids were in awe watching the colours spread. Warning, if you apply too much too fast it will begin to pool and look muddy. My son was a getting a little carried away and I thought for sure that one was going to need to be redone. I didn't get any pictures of the tiles waiting to dry (possibly from my doubtfulness that they would turn out!) After letting them dry completely (a couple of hours) they looked much more bright and even the muddy one looked great!
Once they were completely dry, I added some rubber stickers to the bottom to protect the table from being scuffed by the tile. I had the stickers on hand (they were used in my kitchen cabinets) but I'm sure they could be found at the dollar store or Lowe's.
The coasters were a hit with the grandparents and I'm thinking about making a few more for our house, they were so fast and easy! Definitely a project that I would recommend for kids aged 4/5 and up.
