Jan
15

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters

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DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!) #handmadegifts #giftsformen

 

 

I had an epic goal of hand making one gift for everyone on our list this year…I didn’t quite make it, but I did come pretty close!  These DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters were one of my favorites, though.  I made a set for each of my not-quite-brother-in-laws (my two sisters’ significant others), which worked out perfectly, since they are both into things like camping or hunting, and they really like rustic, earthy elements. They were so much fun to make! Here’s what you’ll need to make a set of your own:

 

SUPPLIES: (This post contains affiliate links – click here to read my full disclosure.)

 

Originally, I had wanted to make the wood slices myself (er, have hubby make them for me) and we did slice up a log that I’d hoped to be able to use…but alas, most of the slices cracked as the wood dried much too quickly.  (You can see what I did with the surviving slices in this post!)  So I just bought birch wood slices from Michael’s – with a coupon of course – and went about stenciling them myself.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!) #handmadegifts #giftsformen

 

First, I decided I wanted to make monogrammed wood slice coasters for my middle sister’s fiance.  I created the design in Silhouette studio, and then cut it out of vinyl.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!) #handmadegifts #giftsformen

 

 

I used contact paper to transfer the vinyl design to the wood slice.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!)

 

 

Then I dabbed on acrylic paint – two thin coats was enough.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!) #handmadegifts #giftsformen

 

 

After letting them dry for about an hour, I applied two thin coats of this varnish to help preserve the design and repel water.  It gave them a little bit of a nice shine, too.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!)

 

 

Then I used hot glue to add thin cork board to the bottom of each coaster that I had cut to the right size and shape.  You could also use a piece of felt, or even a few sticky felt or foam dots – just something to keep the bottom of the coasters from scratching up any furniture.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!)

 

I made another set for my youngest sister’s boyfriend, who is an avid hunter.

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!) #handmadegifts #giftsformen

 

I even had my sister send me a photo of his dog, an enormous black lab named Huck – then I used photoshop to create a silhouette of his head and imported it to Silhouette Studio to make it into a stencil for a coaster!

 

DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters - cut a vinyl stencil or buy a pre-made one from the craft store for these easy and personal handmade gifts. (They make great gifts for guys!)

 

It is normally SO difficult to buy gifts for men, let alone make them a gift that they’ll actually enjoy and use…but I think these are winners in that department!  And actually, I like them so much that I want to make a set for myself.  They’d make great gifts for anyone who likes more rustic elements…or even terrific wedding or shower favors!  The most time consuming part was designing and cutting the stencils – the painting and top coat was really quick and easy!  And even if you don’t have a Silhouette to design and cut the stencils yourself, you could easily purchase a reusable monogram stencil from a craft store.

 

diy-painted-wood-slice-coasters-04

 

So, be sure to file away this idea until Father’s Day, or even Christmas, for the men in your life!

 

If you’ve been thinking about hand making some Christmas gifts, you’ll definitely want to grab my free gift recipient planning list – start planning those Christmas gifts NOW! (Even December 26th isn’t too early to start planning for next year!)

 

Looking for more handmade gifts for men? Click here to see 25 great ideas!

 

Great list of 25 handmade Christmas gift ideas for men. There is a DIY gift idea for any guy in your life on this list!

 

 


And if you’re looking for more great store bought gift ideas for the men in your life (aren’t they always SO hard to buy for??), you’ll definitely want to check out this gift guide I put together for dads. Click here for the full list.

10 great gifts that dad is sure to love!

This post contains affiliate links – click here to read my full disclosure.

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74 Responses to DIY Painted Wood Slice Coasters

  2. Very nice idea. I wonder though if it would be easier/cheaper to cut your design out of acetate sheet or any thin plastic (or even stencil material) and just stencil it onto the wooden item? That wouldn’t require contact paper or using up vinyl (pricey I feel..). Thanks for the wonderful idea/inspiration!

    Reply

    • Hi Rita, I like using vinyl (or sometimes I use contact paper, which is cheaper) because I’m able to customize my design and it gives me crisp, clean lines. You could easily purchase a stencil at the craft store and do the same thing – just be careful not to put too much paint on at one time so the paint doesn’t bleed under the stencil. But using a store bought monogram or other stencil would be a great way to make these coasters too!

      Reply

    • It only cost me the price of the wood slices (it’s been a while, but I know I used a 40% off coupon so I think the total came to around $5 with the discount) – I already had everything else on hand (the paint, sealant, vinyl for the stencil, and cork). It really just depends on how much you spend on the wood slices…but in general it is a very inexpensive gift to make!

      Reply

  19. I bought a stencil and when I put it on the wood coaster it bleed through a little. How do you transfer a stencil to contact paper or how do I make it look more crisp when painting on the monogram?

    Reply

    • Hi Heather, the contact paper is only for transferring a vinyl design. With a store bought stencil, I’d recommend using a foam brush and dapping on VERY light coats of paint to try to avoid bleeding. Another idea is to use spray adhesive on the back of your stencil to get it to stick to the coaster – then paint and peel the stencil off. Hope that’s helpful!

      Reply

      • Hi Meredith,

        I tried to use the spray adhesive it did not work still bleed through. I already bought the wood coasters, paint,spray paint, polyurethane varnish, and cork so I am trying to make this work. Do you have any easy suggestions for the monogram? I just want to buy it already made and be able to paint/trace it onto the wood coasters.
        THanks!

        Reply

        • Hi Heather, I’m sorry that didn’t work for you! Another idea would be just to trace your stencil onto the coasters lightly with a pencil and use a small brush to paint the design by hand. Or you’d probably also be able to find someone on Etsy that will make you a custom vinyl stencil, too.

          Reply

          • Ok I think I am going to try and order a custom Vinyl, but to understand how Vinyl works will i have to just get one made and then transfer that to contact paper and put that on each wood coaster?

          • Vinyl stencils aren’t reusable, so you’d need a different one for each coaster. You use the contact paper to peel the vinyl off the backing all at once, then stick it on your coaster and rub with a credit card to get the vinyl to stick – then you’ll be able to carefully peel off the contact paper and the vinyl stencil will stay behind on the coaster!

  20. Where do you buy vinyl at? How it it transferred to the contact paper? If I wanted to do antlers with an initial above how’d I do that?

    Reply

    • Hi Amanda, I usually buy my vinyl from ExpressionsVinyl.com. I use my Silhouette machine to design and cut custom vinyl stencils. If you don’t have a Cricut or Silhouette, buying a stencil from the craft store is probably the best option. I bet you could find an antler stencil to paint first, and then once it’s dry come back through with a letter stencil to add the initial!

      Reply

  22. Hi,
    I have found your projects and I’m stunned! The idea for the hounting man is great. My father hounts too. I wish I could do sth like this for him for Christmas.
    Wouls You be so kind and sent me only images of those animals and trees? Youd did tchem or you found tchem somewhere? I would be very gratefoul. Thanks an Good Luck with your blog.

    Reply

    • Hi there, thanks for your sweet words! The images are actually part of a clip art set that I purchased from Creative Market, so I cannot share them – I’m sorry!

      Reply

  25. […] Ready-made wooden coasters are hands-down beautiful décor. But if you find them quite costly, utilize your old or torn woolen cardigan. Cut it into round shapes, and you’ll have a coaster that’s equally perfect but cheaper. These are easy to wash and not prone to breakage. You can cut out and merge different color cardigans to make the table layout more flamboyant. […]

    Reply

  52. […] Searching for DIY gifts for men? We’ve got something for the whole family. Whether it’s a project, a present, or just a treat to yourself, we have the perfect thing! Take the birch wood log into slices, will be your next most adorable coasters to add to a party tabletop. Add up the wood slices with the thin cork sheet bottoms and then adorn with the silhouette vinyl and then gift them to your beloved ones to earn more respect for them. Full how-to tutorial here unoriginalmom […]

    Reply

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stay-at-home mom to three beautiful children, wife to an incredible husband, and daughter of a loving God. I freely admit that I am not always the most creative or original person when it comes to crafting, decorating, organizing, cooking, etc...but I love being inspired by great ideas and putting my own spin on them! Look around, stay a while, and I hope through my *unoriginality* I can provide some inspiration to you, too!
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