Showing posts with label housewarming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label housewarming. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Interlocking Felt Coasters

Coasters are not something every household has. Most people either use whatever is already on the table (like a book or a cable bill), have plastic/granite/linoleum tables, or they choose to accept the water rings that will ultimately be on their wood table. Coasters can also be ridiculously expensive... I mean, these coasters from Crate and Barrel will set you back $20! So when I found this post on HowAboutOrange on how you can make your own felt coasters AND have them look cool, I tested them out to see just how easy they were to make. Anything that looks like that must take hours, right? Wrong. They're quick, they're easy, and would make great housewarming gifts, stocking stuffers, even a graduation gift for your college-bound kid (can you imagine the kid placing their cheap PBR on a coaster? Ok, maybe not...)

Start by downloading this template (which will make two coasters) and gathering your felt, scissors, and an x-acto knife.


Next, cut out the perimeter of the template, place the template on top of the felt, and pin it down. Every place you see a diagonal line, cut it out with your x-acto knife.


Once you're all done, cut out the 8 individual rectangles, remove the pins, and remove the paper. The left column is one coaster, the right column is another.


Next, take four pieces and interlace them like what you see below. You'll want the four pieces overlapping each other with four little triangles "chasing" each other, kind of like a pinwheel. At this point, make sure all the slits that are in the center of the square are cut all the way through to the edge. This will help you down the road, I promise!


Now here's where it can get a little tricky. You see those four little triangles? Well, you're going to want to pull them ALL the way through the opening. If your original slit isn't big enough for you to pull the triangle through, you can always cut the opening a little bigger but be careful!


Here's what it should look like once all four triangles are pulled all the way through.


And here's what the back will look like (the side that will lay against the table).


Take your scissors and cut two triangles on the front side in the middle of each side. Trim the sides so that your square is even.


And there you have it folks! Your very own unique, simple, yet functional (and inexpensive!) felt coasters!


TOTAL COSTS: $.33
$.33/color of felt at Michael's (the stiffer the felt, the better!)
Scissors & x-acto knife already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 25 minutes/2 coasters

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
It look me a while to figure out that the tiny triangles have to be pulled all the way through the slits but once I figured it out, it was a piece of cake!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Wine Cork Magnets

I love poking around Pinterest and finding links to overly priced items on Etsy. Seriously, would you pay $9 + $2.50 in shipping for cork magnets?!


Of course not! Why buy the milk when you can get the drunk cow for free, ammiright? These are incredibly easy to make for the lush... I mean, wine "appreciator" in your life and would make a nice housewarming gift, birthday gift, or, "Your fridge is boring and I like merlot!" gift -




So grab those corks from your empty wine bottles as well as:


* Magnet tape
* E6000 glue (not pictured here but highly recommended)
* An x-acto knife or box cutters
* A vice or really heavy books



Carefully cut your cork in half with your x-acto knife but make sure you don't cut through whatever words or design you want to feature on your fridge. I don't recommend this if you just topped off your bottle, as sharp objects + alcohol = a stupid combination.



Grab your magnet tape and cut to the width and length of your cork. If you want to make sure the magnet doesn't peel off, use your smelly E6000 glue. It might stink but it'll do the job!


Place your cork magnets in a vice or under really heavy books for at least a half hour, to ensure the magnet isn't going anywhere. To be safe, I kept them in the vice overnight (it's not like I'm going to be staring at my fridge at 3am).

And there you have it kids! Now aren't you glad you spent your money on another bottle of wine rather than shipping and handling?



TOTAL COSTS: $4.99
$4.99 for magnet tape from Michael's
Corks for free... ::hiccup::...

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 10 minutes/cork + overnight

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy-5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
This is such an easy project, you just cut and glue. I mean, it might be a little difficult to cut through the cork but I wouldn't say it's hard or impossible. Heck, you could open up your own Etsy store with these and charge only $8 if you want!