#Cre8time Wine coaster with Amazing Clear Cast Resin

Good day friends,

I want to show you a quick and easy peasy idea for creating your own special coasters.  I love wine and am always looking for ways to craft either using wine products or making wine decor.  I have the perfect job as I work in a wine store.  We carry only South Dakota made wines and also some local gift and food items.

One of my very good friends loves this wine made in Rapid City.  It's a Cabernet and made by Firehouse.  Well, we carry this wine in the store and we open various bottles for tasting.  When this bottle went empty I snatched it up and took the label off.  Now I've tried a gazillion different methods and this is the one I've found to be the best.  I put the bottle in the sink standing up and run water through my coffee maker.  Then I pour the hot water into the bottle and wait about 3 to 5 minutes.  I immediately make another pot of hot water. Then I slowly start peeling the label off.  If it's not easy yet, pour hot water in again.  Honestly, most of the time it works the first time.  It also depends on the actual labels.  Some come off easier than others.  Now you don't have to wait for the label to dry or risk the label tearing by other methods.

Once I had the label off nicely I applied a thin coat some ModPodge to the tile (just got at my local hardware store) itself.  Some labels will still be a bit sticky which works perfectly.  Just place your label on your tile how you like it.  Some labels you may need to trim or place wonky.  Totally up to you how you want it to look.  This label was rectangular instead of square so I placed it corner to corner and burnished down the sides.  I used the labels from both the front and the back of the bottle to make a "set" of coasters for her.  Now let this set up for a half hour or so at least.  Once that is dried completely I brushed another coat of ModPodge to the top to seal the label.  I also let that set up for another half hour.

Now this next step in not necessary, but I wanted my tile to have a nice finish.  ModPodge is ok, but I love the look of the Amazing Clear Cast Resin.  It gives a feel that the label is under glass.

So mix up your Amazing Clear Cast Resin like this HERE.  It's super easy and does not require a lot of experience.  After I've mixed up my resin I let it sit for about 5 minutes to get all the bubbles out from stirring.  Then slowly pour over your tile.  I actually pick my tile up and let it flow around.  Amazing Clear Cast Resin is self leveling so make sure when you have the resin all over your tile that you place it on a level surface.  Also, if you have some bubbles forming you can take a heat gun to it or if you don't have a heat gun, take a straw and blow the bubbles.  You can even take a lighter and go over the bubbles and they will magically disperse.  I found this item at my local thrift store while looking for things to upcycle.  I'm not sure what it is, but Oh Lordy, it's Amazing!  A perfect doming board for my bigger items.  The excess resin just drips into the bottom of the pan.  I'm assuming that someday I will have this filled up and then will need to throw it away.  That will be a sad, sad, day!  LOL

When I work with my resin I tend to overmix and then I need some of my 

molds made from the Amazing Mold Putty to fill up.

Nothing ever goes to waste.  I always have extra embellishments ready for crafting.

Now I placed a box over the tray and let that set up for 24 hours to make absolutely sure it was hardened.  I really wish you could see the thickness of the tile, but I just couldn't get a good picture.  You can see the awesome glare on the tile though.  It's a beautiful finish.  I actually like doming these tiles better because you don't get the streaks like when you use ModPodge and you also have to understand that the Amazing Clear Cast Resin is food safe.  So you could make some tiles for your cheese to eat while you are drinking your wine!

(The stains on the label is actually from the wine when we poured it.  

I was totally ok with that as it gives it authenticity.)

I added some cork to the bottom of the tiles so that they wouldn't scratch 

the surface when placed on the table.

I can't wait to give these to her.  I'm sure she will love them.

I hope you've enjoyed my quicky project and I'll be seeing you soon again.

I've got some fabulous projects in the works.

As always, have a great day and God Bless.

Bird of Paradise Tile

Good morning crafters,

Today I am here to show you a tile I made by experimenting.  I've been playing with a few products and created this:

I started out with some Creative Paperclay and a wood tile. 

Cutting around the wooden tile I cut out paperclay and although it's an air dry clay I baked it for about half and hour turning it every 7 minutes of so to get a nice even bake.  I use a small toaster oven to bake all my clay and never use it for anything else. 

I still had a little bit of this gorgeous paper left over from my April Frog Dog Studio kit and decided to "muddy" it up a bit using some alcohol inks. 

I also used some Alumilte Silver Metalic Powder and Alumidust in Orange and created a spray mist.

Here is what the tile looks like after mod podging the paper to it. 

You can still see some of the original paper, but I did want just a hint of the details.  Once I got the color I wanted I modpodged the paper to the tile and sanded around the edges.  Then I took my orange ink pad and ran that around the edges to give it almost a burnt look.

Now, I mixed up the Amazing Clear Cast resin and painted it over my tile.  Then I mixed a bit of the Alumilite Blue Dye into the remaining clear cast resin and puddled it around the top of my tile and "blew" it with my heat gun.  It gave it some interesting detail.  I sprinkled some orange glitter in the blue area just for bling. 

I used up the rest of the clear cast resin with the Alumilite blue dye to cast my bird of paradise also from the April Frog Dog Studio kit and I created a mold of it using my Amazing mold putty.  Actually, if you missed that post, you can see it here.

After she was set up, I demolded her and glued her to my tile 

I added a pop tab to the back of my tile as my hanger and now I have a very unique tile to hand in my bathroom just because that color palette will work there very well. 

Thanks for stopping by today and as always, have a great day and God Bless!