DIY Coasters

Lots of lots of projects still going on. I had a long weekend from work for Labor Day so I've been doing lots of shopping and lots of DIY.  Here's the more recent one.....

SUPPLIES:
-I purchased a pack of 125 square, 4 inch, chipboard coasters from an Ebay seller for about $14.50 (including shipping).

-I already had the ink pads (have to use the pigment ink on coasters since it's water resistant) from previous projects.

-I purchased the "lovebirds" stamp and "Thank You" stamp at Hobby Lobby for about $2-2.50 each (during one of their stamp sales).

-The heat gun I borrowed from my future father-in-law, who had used it for rebuilding an old car. It's not an actual embossing gun, but it gets the job done just the same (and I didn't have to pay for one, which is awesome).

-The clear sparkly embossing powder I bought from Michael's using a 40% off coupon.

PROCESS:
- This one is pretty easy. I just took the bird stamp and inked it up with the brown ink and stamped them on the coasters. I had to get a good amount of ink on there and then press down really hard on the coaster to make sure that I got all the lines nice and complete, but they came out pretty good.
-Then I took the pink ink and the "Thank You" stamp and stamped it right below the birds. Since I was going to be embossing the pink part I had to have the embossing power open and ready to go since I have to sprinkle it on the ink immediately after stamping to ensure that it sticks.
-So, after stamping the "Thank You", sprinkle on the embossing powder.
-Shake excess embossing powder off the coaster (I shake mine into a bowl that way I can reuse it later by just funneling it back into the powder jar).
-Then take your heat gun and melt the embossing powder until you see it start to become cohesive and shiny.

*TIP: When it comes to embossing I've tried tons of inks, powders, etc.  What I found that works best and gives me the clearest image (this is especially important if you are dealing with a pretty detailed stamp) is to stamp the image with the color of ink you want and then emboss it with the clear powder. Embossing with the colored powders looks more messy for a detailed image, at least in my experience.*

All done! I LOVE them. The birds are so cute!  Not sure how my wedding theme came to involve birds, but I love it. We definitely have a rustic elegance look to most of our stuff.

Have a great rest of the week!