I try to give handmade gifts when I can. I mean, I can go out and buy a gift but handmade gifts are great; and who doesn’t like something made just for them?! With the holidays are around the corner that means teacher gifts, hostess gifts and gifts for friends and family are in my future. It can all add up and get really expensive along the way.
Anyhoo, when I was at Fall Market I had the brilliant idea to take the coffee sleeve that was around my cup of Joe and make one for myself. Wouldn’t it be great to have my very own reusable coffee sleeve? And, since I had a stack of Kraft-tex, I knew I could make something bright, and fun, and happy! THEN I decided a coaster was needed to go with the sleeve. I mean, the two items kinda go hand in hand, right?
THAT all turned into “Oh, I need to make these for teacher gifts because they are awesome!” And so I did. And this is what happens when you combine Kraft-tex, felt, a stamp, and black ink. I absolutely love it and can’t wait to make more!
Start by carefully taking a coffee sleeve apart. Place it face down on your Kraft-tex color of choice. You can get Kraft-tex in a variety of colors: black, brown, white, blue, green, pink, red, etc.
Trace around the pattern. I used a pencil.
Cut around the pattern. I used my paper scissors.
Find the center front of the sleeve by gently folding the sleeve in half. OR take binding clips to mimic where the sleeve will get glued together and fold it in half so you can mark the sides
I have this set of stamps and ink, but you can pick them up at your local craft store. I like this particular ink because it’s archival and it can get wet. Be sure to give the ink time to dry. And if you are really rubbing at the ink it will smear but it takes A LOT to make that happen.
Stamp the coffee sleeve then glue it together using hot glue or E6000 (or any other glue of choice).
To make the coaster, cut a piece of Kraft-tex to the desired size. I cut a 4 1/2” square, which is kinda big, but I really wanted to use the sugar skull so the stamp dictated the size in this case.
Place the ink pad on top of the stamp. I did this because I felt like I had more control over where the ink went on this large stamp. When I put the stamp into the ink I was getting ink everywhere. That said, for smaller stamps it’s easier to place the stamp on the ink pad to get ink onto the stamp.
Place the stamp, face down, onto the Kraft-tex, trying to center it as best you can. Alternatively, you can stamp the Kraft-tex and THEN cut out your coaster.
To finish my coaster, I cut 4 1/2” black felt and sewed it to the back using a double stitch on my machine using black Aurifil thread.
Patty Murphy 