a little about A LOT: Personalized Scrabble Coasters

Is it already 2014?!?!?!?!?! Seriously, where has the time gone?

It's been a long time coming. Every ~~week~~ day I spend hours looking at other blogs and I say to myself, "Today I'm going to finally catch up on mine" and clearly that hasn't happened... until today

I just don't know how those other ladies {and gents} do it. Where do they find the time to create, organize/edit photos and then blog about it??

then I realized something.... they must not watch any TV!! haha

but seriously, that's the only thing I can figure... that or I'm just REALLY lazy (okay, maybe that's a little true too)

I read that all these other bloggers stay up at night (after the kids go to bed) and work on their blogs. Here is my question... where is your spouse? Are they sleeping? Are they watching the latest episode of Homeland while you're in your craft room working?

That wouldn't happen in this house; my husband gets home after 8pm most nights and seeing as we go to bed around 11, that doesn't leave much time to do anything else but put the girls to bed, eat dinner, have a glass (or two) of wine, clean up and maybe watch a show.

I try to craft/blog during the day, but I can't seem to find enough time. My little girls keep me VERY busy... they are active and into everything. So I ask myself how do these other moms do it? I sometimes get 2.5hrs of free time when they are both napping, but I don't think it's ever "free time"... there is always laundry to fold, dishes to wash, toys to pick up and Pinterest browsing to be done. hehe :)

Anyhow, enough of my banter, onto my first post of the new year. It's a super simple craft that you can personalize anyway you'd like. All you need is:

* Scrabble Tiles (or anything similar to them)
* Cork Board
* Wood Stain (not necessary, only if you choose to use it)
* Wood Glue
* Mod Podge or Acrylic sealer

First decide how you want to lay out your letters.

Random or Specific - it's up to YOU!

I was making these for the hubby to take to work, so I wanted them to be pretty specific... which is why I put our daughters names in the "randomness". Can you see their names??

Look really hard....

Did you find them? {names are Riley and Madison}

Did you notice that it was kinda hard to see the name? Yea, I thought so too, which is NOT what I wanted. I wanted their names to pop!

Which is where the wood stain comes in :)

Grab your specific letters and start staining them.

Get any color you want, I happen to have this one on hand.

While those are drying, it's time to pull out the cork board and trace the area you will be placing the coaster.

Once everything is dry, place your stained letters back into your coaster and get your wood glue out.

Brush glue into your drawn square and then start placing all the letters!

Once the glue dries, take your utility knife {or anything that works and cut the cork board at a slight angle, so the cork doesn't stick out around the coasters.

See how the names pop now?

way better than before

Almost done, but not quite yet.... time to seal the outside.

Grab your Mod Podge or acrylic sealer and put 2-3 coats on the coasters.

**Reminder** Let each coat dry completely before applying the next coat. If in a rush, you can speed up the process by drying with a hair dryer.