This week’s theme for the Deck the Home Blog Hop is “Gift for the Home” and I’m sharing a great gift for that hard-to-buy-for beer lover in your life – preserve craft beer coasters!
Okay, some back story: every year Chris and I go to the Toronto Festival of Beer. It’s one of our favourite outings and we look forward to it every year – getting to try so many new beers from lots of great craft breweries.
Lots of the breweries at the festival hand out coasters and I started taking them when I tried a beer I really loved – mostly so that I would remember the name, but also because they’re a lot of fun.
Coasters are meant to be used right? But these cardboard ones are pretty much a one use item – unless you preserve them! Once you do that they become reusable and a pretty cool gift for anyone who loves beer (or protecting tables).
Materials
- Cardboard coasters from their favourite breweries
- Craft cork squares or roll of cork (3-5mm thick)
- Contact Cement
- Mod Podge
- Sharp, fine point knife
The first step is to glue your coasters to the cork material – I used contact cement for this but an all-purpose craft glue would also work.
Once the glue is fully dry you will need to cut the cork to the same shape as the coasters. My cork squares were quite thick (9mm) and cutting them with scissors was a disaster. A sharp, fine knife gave me the best results.
I do recommend using a thinner cork material if you can find it – and then scissors might work great.
Next use a paint brush and the outdoor mod podge to competely coat the top and sides of the coasters. I left them to dry between coats on some small glasses (flipped upside down).
I find the more coats you do, the less the brush marks show, so I did 5 coats total on my coasters. Essentially, keep going until you’re happy (or no longer want to mod podge).
The end result – fun, reusable coasters!
Need some more DIY gift ideas? Check out more gifts for the home from everyone else in the Deck the Halls Blog Hop!
This turned out great!
Thank you Anam!
You are amazing. Your coasters are the perfect DIY and gift.
Aw thanks!
What a great idea, adding the cork to the bottom and it protects your table. . Adding the extra protection on the top will keep them looking good for a long time. I bet any beer lover would love to receive these as a gift.
Thanks Toni!
These turned out so nice, Casey!
Thanks so much Eileen!
I love this idea! What a very cool way to preserve those coasters!
Thanks Brooke ?
What a fun idea! Since I live smack in the middle of wine Country in Niagara, we have loads of wineries and craft breweries that indeed have some really unique and fun coasters! Oast House Brewery is one of my husbands favorite, and these would make a great stocking stuffer for him! Thanks for sharing 🙂
We go to Niagara all the time! I’ll definitely check out Oast House on our next visit ?
Casey, these are the perfect gift for the guys! The cardboard coasters have such cool graphics, it’s a shame most get thrown out. I’m going to save mine for this project next time I go to a pub.
Yay! It’s such a fun way to show them off – glad you like them Rebecca ?
This is such a great idea! We always threw ours out! I wish I would have thought to do this!
For next time ?
So smart Casey!! We collected some from our trips abroad but I didn’t think about reinforcing them!!
Thanks Lidia! Now you can show off your collection ?
What a great gift idea. This would be a lot of fun to do for a significant other as an anniversary gift!
I’m such a hoarder I’m always keeping pretty coasters from different places and you’re completely right… there not re-usable at all. I love your way to fix them up into a cute coaster for all the time! I can think of a million ways to use this idea for fun Christmas gifts!