DIY Farmhouse Photo Coasters

Have you all just wandered around a home improvement store lately?  I’m telling you, even if you don’t have a DIY house project to work on, you’ll still walk out with project ideas you never knew you wanted to make.

Last week when I was in Lowes getting beadboard for my drawer-turned-farmhouse cabinet, I was browsing the end caps on my way up to the cash register,

...and there it was – the next project I had NO idea I wanted to make.

On one of the end caps was a box of plain white, builder grade tile.  There isn’t much that’s exciting about plain white builder grade tile, but when I saw the price, I was suddenly convinced it’s the next best thing to peanut butter and jelly..

My hands were full with beadboard, and I was kicking myself that I didn’t get a cart, but I  knew my next project was going to be photo coasters.

I made a mental note, and hoped I wouldn’t forget it before I got back home, and for once, my mental note actually stayed in my brain! 🙂

The next day I marched back to Lowes, and I bought that amazing builder grade white tile, forking over less than 75 cents for all 4 of them.  Yep…you heard me right!

I felt like I was doing something illegal taking it out of the store, but I made it out to my Jeep without a manager chasing me down, so I guess the price tag was correct.

I’ve been wanting to make a gallery wall with all the barn photos I’ve taken, but I don’t have a wall to make a gallery on, so barn photo coasters would be the next best thing!

(barn photo printables are HERE).

To make your own, make copies of 4 photos sized at 3-1/2″ x 5″, then crop them down to about 3-7/8″ wide x  3-1/4″ tall.  Your copies need to be made with toner ink, so if you don’t have a laser printer, save the images onto a flash drive and take it to a copy center like Staples to get copies made.  Ink jet ink will not work, as the ink will smear.

The only other supplies you’ll need are:

• foam brush
• school glue
• adhesive felt circle pads for the bottom of tiles
• Modge Podge Clear Acrylic Sealer ( I used matte, but you can use glossy also.)

After cutting out the photos, brush school glue mixed with a bit of water on the back and position photos on the tiles. Smooth out any air bubbles right away.

Put another coat of glue over the top and allow them to dry fully.

Once they are all dry, spray over the coasters with the Modge Podge sealer to protect the images from moisture.

That’s all there is to them!  These are so easy, so quick and so cheap!

Imagine what cool gifts these would make!  They look like Polaroid photos, and you can use the extra space at the bottom to write a note with a Sharpie.

Wouldn’t Grandma love to get a set with her grandchildren’s photos on them?!

And teacher’s would love them with antique school book images on them!

You could also make a set with photos from your vacation, or photos from your garden – really you could put any photo on them, and they will look awesome!

Make a mental note to make these as Christmas gifts, or you could also pin it to help you remember! 🙂

I hope your week is off to a great start!