Bliss Ranch: Bye Bye Birdy Coasters

These coasters were for the birds.

I've had them for close to 20 years, a gift from a cousin. There was nothing wrong with them, and we used them in our cedar porch for most of their almost 20 years, it's just that birds on coasters is not really my deal. So I retired them to a bin of stuff to paint someday.

Some day apparently arrived last week along with a tube of Fusion Mineral Paint in Champlain.

Recycled coasters stenciled with Old Sign Stencils

Two coats of paint and a quick blow dry so I could get to stenciling sooner, and it was bye bye birdy.

Both sides of the six coasters were painted, and I paired Fusion Mineral Paint in Black with Old Sign Stencils to create coasters that were more my style than the birds were.

All 12 sides are different, I chose random parts of the Sugar and Coffee stencils and then added the Grain Sack Stripes in no particular order.

There really isn't any rhyme or reason to it, except that one side is more like puzzle pieces of the coffee stencil. Thank you Donna from Funky Junk Interiors for that idea.

They were looking to plain before they were sanded, that's when I added stripes in random places to fill in some of the white area.

After all sides were dry I used a sanding block to distress them. I hit all the edges and corners with the block as well as the stenciling.

Recycled Coasters with Old Sign Stencils

Sanding also helped disguise where I wasn't so tidy with my stencil edges. The mistakes sanded away or blended in like I meant it to be that way.

Recently when my BFF was here, as we sat and chatted she looked around for a coaster to put her cup on. I didn't have any since I never use them. My family room tables are topped with pallet wood, purposely rustic to take the beating they get, so I'm not really worried me or anyone else will mess them up.

The pallet wood is sealed with Howards Restore A Finish, and it must work well enough because I have coffee every day on that table and there are no cup rings.

But I understand why a guest would want to be sure they don't leave a ring, so the coasters are now sitting on the pallet topped tables for the next time someone worries about leaving liquid rings on my priceless pallet wood.

The coasters received a coat of sealer spray so no coffee rings should ever sink in on them. That's if I ever use them. I suspect they will see more action as puzzle pieces from the little hands around here.