Vintage Coasters

 Do you love to create items you can use for the home? I do occasionally and when I saw these MDF round beer mats from the

Calico Craft Parts online shop,

 I knew I had to use some, but as Coasters,

I needed to replace my coasters as I have a puppy and it ate nearly all my coasters when younger, not a good look I can tell you, so thes are to replace those as she now behaves,!! lol

You can decorate the coasters in so many ways, but this time I had some vintage themed Rice paper in my stash so following on from that I also added some crackle to add to the vintage look,

I started them all off by first painting a couple of fine layers of white Gesso to one side of the coasters,

while these dried I had some cork type material in my stash so I cut one circle each for the bottom of each coaster, this will help the coaster staying in place when being used,

I did the same steps for all the coasters but I will show you the 3 different coasters as I tell you what I did,

So the gesso is dry and I've cut out the Rice paper design, taking a soft brush and some all purpose medium, or you could use decoupage medium too, glue the Rice paper down in the centre of the coaster, I popped some of the all purpose medium on the top half of the coaster and went over the Rice paper with a fine brush with a little more of the medium on so that any air bubbles was got rid off, then I did the lower half of the Rice design following the same steps, then again going over with some of the medium, this makes sure it sticks well on the edges too,

Let these dry completly, I then took some 2 part fine crackle varnish which I painted over the whole coaster including on the Rice paper, I went over in one direction up and down then right and left to get the desired crackle effect, I let this first stage dry for 2 to 3 hours, then went over with part 2 of the crackle paste, using the same method as the first, I let this dry again for a few hours,

The next stage was to add some antiquing paste I have again in my stash, this fills in the cracks, I then went over with a clean soft cloth to remove the excess, 

Then I gave all 3 a coat of matt varnish to add some protection, and adhered the cork circles on the back side of the coasters,

I do hope I've given you some inspiration of one way to decorate the coasters, or of course they can be used as Beer Mats or soft drink mats,

MDF Beer Mats

 Happy Crafting!!