How to Make DIY Circle Confetti Coasters with Sizzix
During my twenties and early thirties at-home entertaining was pretty much one of my favorite things to plan for a Sunday afternoon or weekday evening. Sure, if we all met up at a bar or restaurant no one had to plan a menu, spend too much money buying groceries, make sure their house was clean or begrudgingly lean over the kitchen sink doing dishes for hours as everyone else settled into long slightly inebriated conversations about life and love and art. BUT there is something so special about hosting your loved ones at your home.
As I approach my middle (okay, I’ll be honest late) thirties I’ve become a bit more calculated when I throw get-togethers at my place. Things I never thought of when I was younger like moving the bar out of the kitchen so that it wasn’t a cluster of people trying to make drinks in the same space where someone was cooking or taking my mom’s suggestion of having disposable paper towels in the bathroom so people don’t have to dry their hands on a wet towel have become integral parts of gatherings at my house now.
In the past all of my furniture was either found on the street, bought at thrift store or purchased at Ikea but now that some of my pieces of furniture are a bit more fragile I’ve enlisted coasters to protect them against sweaty glasses filled with margaritas or over-heated mugs of coffee. Of course since I’m a die-hard DIYer, I couldn’t just buy some run-of-the-mill coasters, I had to make my own! I created these coasters in under an hour using my Sizzix die cutting machine.
So if like me, you’re totally over having guests leave rings on your coffee table, make these coasters so you can spend less time worrying about damage to your furniture and more time hanging out with your friends and family. Because, in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about… those precious few moments of intimate connection with the people we love the most. Cheers!
WHAT TO GET:
-Circle Sizzix dies
*If you don’t have a Sizzix machine you can cut the circles by hand but it takes some serious extra time.
-Scissors
-White acrylic paint
-Paintbrush
-Magazines or decorative paper. I used one of my favorite magazines, Uppercase because they have so many awesome patterns and colors on their pages.
-Gloss medium
-Four square pieces of wood (You can cut your own wood or get these ones so you don’t have to deal with cutting of sanding)
WHAT TO DO:
1. Paint your coasters.
2. While your coasters are drying, take a pair of scissors to your magazine and start clipping images, patterns and colors that will become your circles.
3. Follow the instructions that came with your Sizzix machine to cut tons of circles in different sizes from your magazine clippings. If you don’t have a Sizzx you can cut the circles by hand but it’ll take a while, so settle in with a good podcast or movie. One of the things I love about my Sizzix machine is that I can cut several layers of perfect circles quickly. You can see in the photos below that I cut several layers of paper at once.
4. Once your circles are cut, lay them out and begin thinking about how you’ll place them on the coasters.
5. Paint gloss medium on one of the coasters and begin placing your circles on it. I placed the largest circles first and then used the smaller ones to fill in the space. Once the circles are placed on the coaster, paint another layer of gloss medium on top.
6. Repeat step 5 for the rest of the coasters.
Last year, I made Thanksgiving dinner for just my best friend (who flew in from across the country) and me. It was so much fun!
We live in New Orleans and for the past 3 years we have had a big Mardi Gras party on the Sunday before Mardi Gras because we are just 2 blocks from the parade route. I would love to get into DIY with the decor this year and with the Sizzix machine I can make the process go much faster and be able to cut some awesome shapes. My Mardi Gras party is February 15th!
I’d love to take my original drawings and make some tiny cameo and buttons, it looks like so much fun!
My favorite memory is the last dinner party I had with my mother – it was to celebrate my and my daughter’s birthdays. Sadly, my mom died about 6 weeks later, but I have a lovely memory of her!
If I won, I would use it to craft some cute placecards, or a detail for a napkin rings. I would also use it for decorating little nichos (shrines).
one of my fav hosting memories is Thanksgiving in college where I prepped the whole meal for 11 guests. I went to college in England, and back in the 90s it was hard to find a fresh turkey in November in the north of England, so I had a frozen, and it wasn’t thawed completely when I wanted to start prepping dinner, so I had to re-arrange my prep order so that the bird could get thawed in running cold water first… it was a great night.
My favorite memory is making a lovely dinner party for my mother, my dearest friend and her family several winters ago. Although I made a fantastic dinner, it was more about making new memories and sharing. With the Sizzix, I’m eager to make all sorts of quilted items, including a table runner and placemats. (Cutting is so time consuming!) Perhaps even some invitation and placecards for a future dinner party at a venue to be determined. This is fabulous!
Last year, I moved from Washington to California and had all my friends over for a going away party. Even though we were all sitting on boxes, we had a great time and it made me realize how much my friends meant to me in the short time I had been in Washington.
For me, a lot of special memories are cooking with my sister and mother. Baking cookies/desserts are particularly fun for all of us!
My favorite memories of having friends and family to my house were actually during my childhood. Back then, we all lived closer together and so grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all there for whatever event we happened to be celebrating. Now our get togethers may be smaller but they’re still lots of fun.
I can think of many creative projects to make using the Sizzix, but I think it would be especially great for making Christmas decorations and garlands or for decorating my team’s Relay for Life campsite. 🙂
What a lovely giveaway! I would make coasters with my ink and watercolor designs on them!
When we moved into our cirst condo in doentown, we had a bunch of friends over for dinner then walked to the nearby live music benue to hear a great reggae band. Our friends still talk anout it 8 years later!
This would be perfect to help make my silver disc backdrop for my candy treats/ buffet business!!
my favorite time is hanging out with friends and making and we have project days (weekends)
we make food and make different things each of us have found and talk and just get creative
and some of us bring it back to our classrooms so our students can also get their creative juices going
it would be great to have this tool in school and to share with students to make thing during the year
and be able to learn from each other
I held a cheese and chocolate fondue party at my house for my friends–so many good memories and melted goodness!
I held a cheese and chocolate fondue party at my house for my friends–so many good memories and melted goodness!
“Pick me!””Pick ME!” She raises her hand as high as it can possibly go. “Plllleeeeeaaaaaase,” she pleads. “I promise I’ll be your best friend.” That’s sure to seal the deal she thinks to herself.
I am a small business owner, flying by the seat of my pants, as I attempt to make my dream of owning and running a record/vintage shop a reality! I am a solo proprietor, who takes DIY seriously! This past year I started recycling old record covers into other things, ie gift tags, post cards, book marks. This amazing machine would be such a help in expanding the ease and variety of items that I make. I hate throwing things away that have transformative opportunities!
I remember when we were little my mom and dad would have a Christmas eve party every year and everyone friends and family would bring something and we always had fun. I loved those parties and if my house wasnt so small I would love to have kept on with those parties but I will always remember the time we spent having fun even though most of them arent around anymore.
sally0630@frontiernet.net
My favorite memory is my husband and I having over our best friends, S + T. We were so fortunate to find that dynamic, where all four of us just clicked. We’ve shared hundreds of meals together over the years, so it’s hard to pinpoint just one. S is the brother I never had growing up, and he passed away suddenly last fall. We miss him immensely; how I wish we could have one more dinner together!
Love the coaster idea. I think I would use it to make quilts. Baby quilts for family and friends, quilts to personalize my room, everything from stars and hearts to animals would be possible.
Last December I made sets of Christmas card that were sold in our son’s school fundraiser. I created them with embossed card tops and die cut of the leaves and tags.
They were quite popular after all…I’m grateful!
Hope to win this new SIZZIX machine kit! There are so many cute projects coming later this year…
What a great way to use your creativity!