coaster christmas ornaments.

I wanted to do something as a thank-you for the all of the volunteers who have made the Bridge Kids ministry possible this year, but I needed it to be inexpensive (especially when mass-produced).

I am so happy with how these came out! Here's the end result:

I printed large letters spelling THANK YOU, and mounted each letter on colored cardstock. Since my friend Melissa was helping us out by taking pictures of the kids packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, I asked her to take pictures of the kids holding up the letter signs.

I knew I wanted to make ornaments of some kind, but wasn't sure exactly how to incorporate them, until one of my coworkers suggested unprinted bar coasters. In fact, she had a ton of extras from another project, and gave me all the ones I needed!

Several years ago I bought a pack of 6x6 Christmas-themed srapbook paper, intending to make some kind of ornament book, I think. That never happened, but I'm enjoying using the paper in other ways - two years ago I used it to spell out "Happy Christmas" in different frames.

For this project, I selected two coordinating pieces for each ornament, then cut them down to 4-inches square. Then I use my round-corner paper punch to more closely fit the shape of the coasters (it's not a perfect fit, but I'm probably the only person who actually knows it).

I used Modge Podge to attach each piece of paper, then used the back size of a dinner knife to smooth everything out. Once it was dry I rubbed the edges of the coaster on a black ink pad.

Initially I wasn't sure how well this would work, but it kind of defines the edges and hides any imperfects in lining up the paper.

Next I punched holes in the papered coasters. I found that a regular three-hole punch would punch through the coaster, but it was so difficult to wedge the coaster into the hole punch that it marred the paper. So I bought a screw punch at Michaels. It was more than I was hoping to spend, but I used a coupon and a gift card and rationalized that it was almost the only money I was spending. Its still not that easy to use - a cropadile would probably work better, but there was no way I was shelling out $35 for something I wasn't sure I would use again.

The rest was simple - just add the photo using photo corners, make a small thank you tag, and add a ribbon. I added names on the back of tags to make sure that I got them to everyone.

I'm linking this up (late) to DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.