Alcohol Coasters

I made these coasters for Christmas presents this year. Supplies needed are:

•  glossy ceramic tiles (found at Home Depot)
• Alcohol Ink by Adirondack (found at JoAnn's)
• a bottle of alcohol
• paint brushes
• paint for use on ceramics
• rubber feet (found at home depot)
• gloss coat

And here is how I did it:

1. Spread alcohol across the top of the tile with a paint brush. (This can be done sans the alcohol, the ink just doesn't spread as much, but still creates a cool look.)
2. Drop single droplets on top of the tile and watch it spread. Layer drops as they spread, or use single drops side by side and watch them collide. 
3. Once you have created the look you are going for, let it dry.
4. I used a semi-gloss clear coat and sprayed the top of the tiles to ensure it is set.
5. I used ceramic paint and painted the edges and the bottom of the tile. 
6. Once that was dry I applied the clear coat along the edges and the bottom of the tiles to ensure the paint is sealed in as well. 
7. Lastly I applied the rubber feet to the botom of the tiles to complete the look.

These coasters went over very well! I can't take all the credit, I found this great blog that had posted about it previously.

    

Portable Growth Chart

I found this amazing tutorial on portable growth charts for children. We didn't keep track of our height at my house growing up, it was done at my grandma's house. She is selling her house this spring, and the growth chart that has been created over the years will be gone forever. These growth charts make a fantastic gift for babies. For Christmas I made my nephew Jared, and my God daughter Lily each one.

The tutorial said she picked up Jute Webbing at Walmart. I did not have any luck finding it at Walmart or at my local JoAnn's store. I had to google it and order it online. I paid about $15 for 10 yards (I have a few friends that are expecting). I used Sharpies like she indicated which was fine for the ticks, but on the one for Lily I wanted to add some flowers to play it up a bit, but the sharpie bled beyond the stencil lines. I had to make a second one for her, and learned to fill in the numbers and letters lightly so it did not bleed.