Christmas Gifts

These are some tiles that I have made for a friend of mine. She came over to my house and went Christmas shopping in my craft room!!! She picked out all sorts of goodies for me to make for her to give as gifts for Christmas. Here are some tiles that she picked out for herself to go in her new family room. I made 8 coasters total, but here are just a sample of a few of them. She choose the same picture for all the tiles, but wanted them in different colors along with different sayings.

There are some great tutorials on SCS to do these tiles. I stamped on them with StazOn, baked them at 325 degrees for 15 minutes and once they cooled put a thin coat of sealant over them. I didn't really need to do ALL of those steps...I could have just baked them or just sealed them but I wanted to make SURE that the ink wouldn't run after they were used. TFL!

Added: I already had this all typed up to post but wanted to add a few notes. I've had several people from SCS email me regarding questions for the tiles.

TILES: I purchased them at Lowe's. You can get them at any home improvement place near you. The ones I got were 4x4 unglazed tumbled marble. 9 came in a box for $5.38, so they are about $0.60 each. I had to go through several boxes so I could pick out the good ones for stamping on. Some have really big "craters" in them and I didn't prefer those for stamping on.

INK: There are several options. For those tiles, I used StazOn ink. It's a permanent ink for non-porous surfaces. I've done other tiles where I stamped the image in black StazOn and then colored the image in with blender pens, by dipping it into a regular Stampin' Up! ink pad. You can also dab your blender pen into chalk, or color in with SU! markers, Sharpie Markers, etc.

SEALANT: I probably over did it, but I chose to bake them and then seal them with an acrylic sealant. When baking them, I did it for 15 minutes at 325 degrees. Once they have cooled, I put a thin coat of DecoArt Multi-Purpose sealer on them with a foam brush. You could also put a light coat of spray over them. (one coat or two, whatever your preference is) I have also used Plaid Clear Acrylic Sealer (matte). Make sure to spray at a distance. You just want to do a light coat. If you get too close, the pressure of the spray could smear your ink (that happened to me, so I had to start over with that tile!)

BACK OF TILES: I used small felt circles that I purchased at the dollar store. Some people prefer to put a 4x4 square cork on the back and adhering it with E6000 or Crystal Effects (or any type of strong adhesive). Also, if you are going to sell these at a craft show, don't forget to stamp the back of the tile (or cork) with an SU! Angel stamp.

PACKAGING: I usually wrap a pretty ribbon, taffeta, twine, etc. around them like you would tie up gift. That way people can see what they are getting, yet they look a little more finished with the ribbon.

Now, get out there and start creating! I'd love to see what you come up with! You can email me a picture of your tiles directly or leave a comment on this post and leave a link to your blog or SCS gallery so I can check them out! Thanks!




Supplies: Stamps-All SU!, All I Have Seen, Wonderful Words; Tiles-unglazed tumbled tiles from Lowes; Ink-All Stazon-Purple, Green, Brown; multi-purpose sealer