Covering Coasters

Hello everyone. Remember when I asked about your shopping mojo and if it was lost? Well, it seems my crafting mojo was misplaced somewhere and the simplest little project gave me such fits. I saw Rene over at Cottage and Vine do a little coaster makeover. They turned out so great. I had these cork backed coasters that needed a little updating so I thought, lets give his a try.

I traced the coaster onto some scrapbook paper and cut it out. My first attempt I used modge podge and a small brush and brushed the MP on the coaster and then laid my cut paper on top. Smoothed it out, tried to smooth it out some more. Ack, bubbles. I used my fingers. Nope bubbles still there. I let it dry. Bubbles still there. Needless to say, there are no pictures of the process since my hand were covered in MP.

I tried letting it dry before the top coat, I tried top coating right away and this is what they looked like. Crapola.

My next attempt. Weeks later. I decided to try spray adhesive on three more coasters. I sprayed the paper and laid it down on top of the coaster. The one up front, perfect. Not a bubble in site. Joy! The other two? Trouble makers. It seems I did not spray them enough so when I tried to top coat with the MP, bubbles appeared like magic. Black magic. So I ripped off the paper. See my mess?  I wonder if my mojo will ever come back. This really shouldn't be this hard.

After I cleaned off the two problem ones I tried again and sprayed them well. This time I sprayed the coaster and not the paper. Beautiful. Smooth as glass. I gave them a couple or three top coats of the evil MP with a foam brush this time and let them dry.

Here they all are. They all got a few coats of some spray on clear coat. The ones on the left, smooth and bubble free. The ones on the right, not so much. It might be hard to see in the picture but trust me. There is a difference. The one in the middle? Well, that was an experiment to see if I could do this without the evil MP. I just used the spray glue and then the sprayed on the top coat. It did work but it doesn't have as much of a coating so it might not last as long. 

Can you believe this is my first time using this stuff? I know, hard to believe. So, here are my tips if any of you have had problems with modge podge. Being that I'm an expert now.

1. Make sure surface is clean

2. Use a foam brush, leaves less brush strokes

3. Use thin coats, thin, don't squirt the MP onto the paper.

4. Try the adhesive glue if you have it. It worked for me.

5. You can get it off if you mess up. Though, I didn't wait too long.
6. Find someone who's good with this stuff for more advice.

Cheers!

I'm linking up with Debbiedoos Before and After Party.