DIY Decoupage Beer Label Coasters Tutorial

DIY Beer Label Stone Tile Coasters

These are fancy looking, but oh so easy to do with some simple materials. Again, I feel like I need to mention that there are lots of decoupage coaster tutorials out there. All are very searchable, and use everything from color copied photos, scrapbook paper, scrap fabric, wine bottle labels… my coasters use local beer labels. Great gift idea for a host, or that beverage aficionado in your life!

You need:

  • Water
  • Tub or mixing bowl large enough to submerge your bottles
  • 4″ x 4″ Stone tiles (found at your home improvement store in the flooring section)
  • Foam Brush
  • Mod Podge, or some acrylic decoupage medium
  • Felt (adhesive-backed)
  • Optional (but useful): Safety pin or dressmaker pin, plastic card (i.e. used gift card), very fine sandpaper, clear acrylic spray

**OH, when you’re looking at the tiles, check them for chips and dings before you purchase. People pick through them!**

First, you’ll want to remove your labels. I filled our empty beer bottles with water, then submerged the bottles in hot/warm water in a large mixing bowl. Actually, I left it overnight, and in the morning, the labels were super easy to remove. No rips, no shredding. Lay your labels down to dry. (Now go put your glass bottles in the recycling bin…)

Prep your stone tiles by wiping down with a damp towel. They get pretty dusty at the home improvement store. Assuming your labels are dry… use your foam brush and apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to your tiles, nice and easy. Place your labels where you want them, and then press them down firmly.

You’ll get tiny air bubbles, air pockets, because stone tiles are bumpy and porous. Just work out the bubbles gently with your fingers (or plastic card) from the middle of the tile and outward. This is also when you might find a pin handy. I would gently poke the air bubble then push the air out with my finger. Let the tiles dry for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, check your tiles. They will feel tacky, but you can touch them. Add another coat of Mod Podge, and work out the air bubbles, and let dry. Repeat two or three more times. I painted five layers, each time working out any air bubbles with a pin.

Let your tiles dry completely overnight, or 24 hours. If you don’t like the tacky feeling, which I don’t, you can “wet sand” your tiles with very fine sandpaper. I wet a small piece of sandpaper and just went over the tiles. Your decoupaged skin won’t be messed up at all… it will become smooth. Skip the sanding (or not), then just seal with clear acrylic spray, following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Lastly, cut 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ felt squares and glue under the tiles, or if it is adhesive-backed, just press into place.

DIY Decoupage Stone Tile Coasters

Beer Labels decoupaged onto Stone Tiles

DIY Subway Art Tutorial

Text as art – I love the simplicity. About six months ago, I noticed it was popping up all over the place. Maybe you’ve seen this type of art in home décor stores, or posted on Pinterest. You can find even find pillows. (What kills me is that I used to do all sorts of text/graphic art in college, mid-90s – like using it for wrapping paper and stationary. I must have been ahead of my time. Hehe.)

I like subway art for its historic and vintage feel. What I’d give for some vintage signs… but, I thought, heck, how hard could this be to make my own sign?! I was so looking forward to making this for my husband. and cannot tell you how excited I was when it was finished.

Here’s how I made our own subway art using cities that my husband and I have called home.

Before you start, please note:

  • I stenciled and spray painted. This isn’t the decoupage-type poster.
  • This project also took more time than I thought.
  • This project was AWESOME and I’d do it again. Okay? Still with me? Thanks.

What you need: measuring tape, plywood, pencil, sand paper (optional), spray paint: white primer, white (semi-gloss) and black (semi-gloss), computer, printer, Contact paper or Xyron Creatopia with repositionable adhesive (optional), scissors and/or X-acto knife.

You will need to go to a copy/print center like FedEx Kinko’s, or an office supply store to enlarge your printout.

Let’s start

I was fortunate to have plywood lying around. It had been sitting outside for so long that it’s weathered. I like that organic, rustic look – so, I did not sand the boards, not one bit.

1) Measure your plywood. I used a 16” wide x 40” high board. It’s a reasonable size, I think.

2) Spray it with white primer using the manufacturer’s directions. Let dry. When dry, spray with white paint. I did not coat the board until it was completely opaque, just enough to coat. I still like the weathered look. Let it dry overnight, or if you’re in a hurry, follow the manufacturer’s directions. It should be dry to touch in an hour.

Time to prep your text

1) Using your desktop publishing program, you’ll make your text box the same proportions as your board. You’ll want your text box to print out on an 8-1/2″ x 11″ paper. This entails a little math – think lowest common denominator. Since my board is 16” x 40”, I made a text box 4” x 10”. This will allow you to print a good copy from home. (2” x 5” is too small.)

2) In your text box, play with the font (I like Helvetica) and placement of your text. I centered each city. Maybe you want yours centered, justified… wide fonts, tall fonts, etc. My one recommendation is to make most of your text as wide as the text box.

3) When you are pleased with your layout, print a copy. (See my original printout below.)

4) Since your copy is proportional to your board, it will be easy to enlarge to size. SO, with that, take your printout to the copy center, and ask to have it blown up 400%. If you’re tech-savvy, you can try this on your own. I spent $4.00, and about 45 minutes doing it myself.

5) Go home and cut apart your text, and play around with the placement. Mark in pencil the approximate locations of each city by marking the top and bottom of each line.

Making your stencils

1) I’m fortunate to have a machine to apply adhesive onto anything. So, after cutting apart my text, I ran the pieces through my Xyron Creatopia with repositionable adhesive. Now my letters are like big post-it notes. If you do not own a Xyron, you can use Contact paper in the next step.

2) The tedious part: cut out each letter. I thought I’d only need an X-acto. Scissors will work just fine, and if you have non-stick scissors, even better.

  • If you’re using Contact paper, I’d just layer and cut through your copy and the Contact paper at the same time. You could trace every letter onto the Contact paper first if you’re more comfortable with that.
  • Use your X-acto knife and cut out any opening in the letters (i.e. O, A, B, D, P, etc.)
  • Save the “negatives” of your text. They will help when you’re laying out your words.

Placement on the boards

1) Remove the protective backing from the letters (one at a time) so you have stickers. Using your “negatives”, place the stickers in their respective spots.

2) Once you’ve completed a word, carefully remove the “negative”.

 3) You’re done with one word! Now do it for all your words… take a break and have some coffee. Stretch your back.

4) When you’re finished placing all your words, prop it up and take a look. Do you like the placement? Is it straight? Straight enough? Need to make spacing adjustments? Do it before you rub all the letters down.

5) Take a blunt end of a dowel rod, or your pencil eraser, or your fingernail if you desire, and rub the letters down as much as you can. This will ensure that the black paint won’t seep under the stencils. And even if it does, it will be minimal.

Almost done

1) When you’re happy with the text… get your board and black spray paint. Go outside, spray one coat evenly, let dry according to paint manufacturer’s directions. When dry, spray another coat. Let dry overnight, if you can. I had minimal time, so it was about 4 hours.

2) The fun part: using your X-acto, peel off the letter stickers carefully. (At this point, I was so excited about how it was turning out!)

3) You might want to touch up certain areas with paint, or you may want to sand some spots but essentially, YOU’RE DONE! Nice work!

 

 

Hanging Pictures – Part Two

After a little deliberation, I started my installation of our framed pictures. Hooray.

Then I stopped after one. Boo.

(Inhale…) My husband came home, looked, made a comment that made me think he seemed unsure of the placement, (the hallway isn’t that wide, and the pictures are 8×10 or larger), therefore I became unsure of my logic and decision-making in decorating, so I stopped. Whew, run-on sentence… yes. Now we’re/I’m reconsidering and replanning.

Maybe the frames will go in the dining room now. Everyone can enjoy the pictures, there’s plenty of room… I don’t know that I like the layout so much here. The drawback about the dining room is that there isn’t a lot of light. This could be a good thing too, because we don’t want a lot of direct light on the pictures. (Don’t want them to fade.) Wintertime there’s a ton of light reflecting off the snow. But, the hallway has directional lighting (recessed can lights) for framed art.

I’m trying another layout. Now there’s an empty space for which I don’t have a matching frame. There’s another wall at our living/family room. Maybe I’ll try that spot tomorrow. Can I just hire someone to do this? My patience is being tested, I know.

Installing the Pencil Sharpener…Ugh

Everyone likes a nice sharpened pencil, right? We used to have an electric pencil sharpener, but either that was a victim of moving four years ago or it’s at my in-laws home somewhere. Then we have all these little pencil sharpeners that come in art kits, school supply kits and the like. Some of them are decent, but most don’t cut it for me. They make for weird sharpening angles and lead (graphite) pieces falling out. Time for a good old-fashioned pencil sharpener. I bought this a while ago, and finally figured out a good location for it.

So here I go again with another DIY installation. Unlike the glass shelves in the kids’ bathroom (thought I wrote about that), this was a little challenging. You wouldn’t think a little ol’ sharpener would bring me a little grief… it looks like it was successful, but I’m lucky that 1) no one was here to witness my running up and down stairs to gather equipment, 2) no one was here to listen to my “potty-mouth” and 3) my 3 year old doesn’t understand when I swear when I get really frustrated.

This looks like it was properly installed, right? The sharpener is anchored into the oak door jamb where I predrilled holes, matching the position on the anchor. Solid oak is TOUGH, or maybe my drill bits are crappy. After checking the anchor position, I saw that one of the holes was drilled slightly off. Like enough that I had to drill again. So, that wasn’t too bad. Now for the actual attaching…

I took apart the sharpening mechanism, so I could get a better angle to put in the screws. At this point, I realized the predrilled holes were too small. It was so hard to manually drive in those screws, so I put down the anchor and screws, took out a larger drill bit and drilled holes again. Grr. I placed the anchor back, put the screws in place, then used the drill to start screwing them in… thinking I would use the manual screwdriver at the end. I didn’t want to break any plastic or crack the oak (which now I realize could be impossible for me). I nearly stripped the heads off two of the screws. Grrr, again. Took out the manual screwdriver, started turning that top screw… it seemed to turn so easily. Too easily. See that hole in the picture? The top part of the screw BROKE off.

And, here’s the other almost-mangled screwhead.

At least it works, and the sharpener doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere – for now. The husband just shook his head after I told him…

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