Mod Podged Slate Coasters

I recently had a crafty get together with friends, and it was a blast! My crafty friends made such beautiful items, I wanted to keep them all for myself. ( I'm not that greedy, really.) I only wish I had taken more pictures to share with all of you, but I did manage to get a picture of these beauties!

My creative friend Marianne had the idea to make these coasters. I'll try to explain how she did it. ( it was really easy) 

Marianne found the plain black slate coasters at Micheal's craft store. She bought a set of 4 for only $2.00! The slates already came with felt pads on the bottom. All these babies needed was a little character. 

Next, she printed, (onto cardstock) and cut out the free printable "keep moving" bicycle image from the "Wild@heart"  blog.

She then distressed the edges of the images using black ink, doing this "blends" the image into the black slate, giving a more uniform look. 

Now, Marianne Mod Podged the cardstock image onto the slate coasters. She did a total of 2 coats of Mod Podge, allowing to dry between coats. 

Finally, Marianne sprayed all of the coasters with an acrylic sealer. The coasters are pretty much water proof. 

The entire process took about 1 hour. Marianne has seen similar sets selling for close to $20!  

These made an excellent house warming gift for her brother. 

So there you have it, so easy, and so cheap. If you would like to use the free image click here. 

Thanks so much Marianne, for sharing this wonderful idea with us. I've seen so many coaster ideas out there using small tiles, that to see this slate coaster is a refreshing change. I love it,

All Boy Scrapbook layout

Have you ever looked at someone's scrapbook, and thought to yourself  " wow, I wish that I could do that." Or thought, " I'd never have the time, where would I even begin? " 

That is what I used to think until I finally decided that I was just going to do it. I'm still a newbie to scrapbooking, but I can attest to the value of this popular "hobby". ( I use the term "hobby" loosely.)

Scrapbooking is something that can be done with others. Family and friends who get together to scrapbook are creating lasting memories. My 10-year-old daughter loves to scrapbook with me, and I really enjoy showing her all of the new techniques that I've learned. ( Techniques that my friends have shown me. )

Scrapbooking is also a very personal way to preserve your cherished moments. Everyone begins to find their own sense of style and design. This is something valuable to the future generations who will look at your pages. They will be seeing a small piece of who you are on every page. Making scrapbook pages also gives you more space to journal about your memories. Future generations would be blessed to read what grandma wrote about mom. When I was a girl I loved to look through the family photo albums, but sometimes my grandparents could not remember what a photo was, or why it was kept. Scrapbooking your pictures keeps you from forgetting.

This is my latest page, using My Minds Eye papers and embellishments. I also used some coordinations cardstock paper from my stash.

The little wood heart was from my stash, I inked it using Tim Holtz distress ink. The gift tag is a free printable as seen in my last Freebie Friday post. 

But what if your just not a paper cutting kind of person? Well, with all of the digital scrapbooking options out there, you don't have to be. You could do all of it on your computer. No mess, No glue, No printing pictures to begin. Just place your pictures, journal, and print or write onto a disc. I personally recommend the My Memories Suite v.3 software. It allows you to be simple and just drag pictures to the page, or get as creative as you would like, and customize your own page. It's easy to install and easy to use. To see some pages that I've created in the past using this program click here. 

So what are you waiting for... go on and preserve your memories for others to enjoy. 

Blessings,