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Ceramic Tile DIY Coasters – A Complete How to Guide

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Hello, friends!  I have some ceramic tile DIY coasters you’ll love to learn about.  Make these tile coasters for yourself or for a gift following this simple tutorial!

Ceramic Tile DIY coasters. Great for gifts or yourself. Use your favorite photos for a personal coaster. Tutorial provided!

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See more fun craft ideas here.

Supplies for making your own coasters:

  • Stock photos – I printed some photos that are free of copyrights at Pixabay.com (or your own photos would work great too!) on regular copy paper.  Scrapbook paper would work well.  I have not tried this with actual photo paper.  If you do, leave me a note regarding how they turn out!
  • Simple, plain white ceramic tiles measuring 4×4 inches (you can typically find these really affordable at your local hardware store or Home Depot. Be sure to find tiles without chips!)
  • Modpodge
  • Foam brushes
  • Small roller brush
  • Door bumpers or cork board to put on back of tiles
  • Krylon Sealer
  • Scissors
printed copies of photos

Instructions

As with all diy projects, it’s best to gather all your supplies before you start. You might not even need to make a run to the craft store!

There isn’t much prep work involved with this fun craft. Let the kids help as this would be a great gift to give a hard-to-buy-for family member for their birthday!

Clean the tiles

Clean tiles with alcohol pads and remove any dust or dirt. It only takes a few moments for the tiles to dry.

Find Photos or Prints You Love

Select photos, then cut down to 4×4 inches to fit the tile. Your set of coasters can match with the same picture or you can select different photos for each.

DIY coasters supplies

Ensure you have all of your supplies ready to go before proceeding to the next step! Since you are working with glue, you will want to be able to work fairly quickly and not have to spend time searching for something.

Apply Mod Podge

This can get a bit messy, so you might want to wear rubber gloves.

Place the tile on an old towel or paper towel to avoid making a mess with the Mod Podge.

Be sure you don’t glue the tile to your towel by accident.

foam brush dipped in modpodge

Brush a thin layer of Mod Podge directly onto the tile with a foam brush.

painting modpodge (glue) onto tiles

Place Photo on Tile

  • Quickly and carefully place your trimmed photo onto the tile.  
  • Add another layer of ModPodge on top of the photo.

Then use the roller to smooth out the air bubbles.

Don’t roll too much as you’ll destroy the picture.  I’ve found that thicker paper tends to work better with the ModPodge.

If you need more tips on using Modpodge for crafts, I give more details when I created glass pebble magnets.

Krylon Sealer

Seal Coasters

After the ModPodge has completely dried, seal the coasters with 3 light coats of a spray sealer such as Kylon Sealer, allowing dry time between coats.

rubber dots for tile backs
  • To protect the table surface from the tile, use something on the back of the coasters such as door bumpers.

I placed a door bumper on each of the four backside corners of the coaster.  This also keeps the coaster from moving around on the table when a drink is sitting on it!

Alternatively, you could cut a piece of cork board to fit the tile and hot glue it to the back.  I found the door bumpers worked well and were very fast to apply.

Coffee table with plant, coasters, and styled tray

That’s it! Ceramic Tile DIY Coasters that are ready for your guests to place their drinks!

Be sure to wait 24 hours to allow the Krylon sealer to dry completely before using.

Another great craft that is fun to add to your home decor is nail and string art! I made ours with my daughter and had a blast!

Small tile used as coaster on coffee table.

What do you think?  The DIY coasters can really add a personal touch to your coffee table.

After you make these once, you will find so many coaster ideas you will want to create.

Looking for more DIY craft ideas?  Try learning how to make brown sugar scrub.

Not a craft for home decor, but one I know you’ll enjoy!

CRAFT PROJECTS

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How to make coasters with pictures
Sign of from April at Love Our Real Life

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8 Comments

  1. Hmmm…Mother’s day is coming – I think I could pull this off for the Nana’s and Nanny’s in our life. Just have to say I love the decor you can see in the pictures – very pretty!

  2. Actual pictures work also. We have a bunch of these coasters. Kylee was in charge of crafts at Bible School a few years ago and mad them as a craft. We have since made them from vacation pictures. We also made them for Christmas gifts.

  3. These are great and look fairly easy to do! Ava and I will have to give these a try! Thanks

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