Kitchen Sink Stamps Project of the Month: Cork Coasters

I'm excited to share the Kitchen Sink Stamps Project of the Month with you today. Here's the background story behind my project. A while ago, I received an idea magazine in the mail from Lowe's. I get these magazines every month or so and usually I look through them and see all these great ideas and think, "I could do that," but I never do any of them. One project in an article on creating beautiful table settings caught my eye and I decided to give it a try. For the most part, I don't have many occasions that call for a fancy dining table, but the ideas for creating placemats were so pretty and so easy to do. I made a few changes to the directions to adapt the project for stamping and to make it useful for me.

This project was inspired by the cork plate chargers, serving trays, and bases for flower arrangements featured in the article. For my purposes, I modified the project to make coasters, which I can always use.

Here's what you'll need for the project:

• cork mats: sold in various sizes and shapes at various places including hardware stores, craft stores, and dollar stores; you can find them in the floral section at Lowe's


• primer (I used Kilz)


• foam brush


• white spray paint


• stamps: I used the Daisy set from Kitchen Sink Stamps on these coasters


• pigment inks


• heat tool

First, cover the cork mats with primer. For this project, I selected round cork mats approximately 4" in diameter. I used a foam brush to apply the paint for easy clean up.

After applying one coat of paint, set the mats aside to let them dry. The manufacturer of the primer I used recommends allowing 1 hour to dry.

Once they're dry, coat the mats with white spray paint. I used a semi-gloss spray paint, but this probably would work okay with a matte or gloss paint. Remember that if you choose glossy, it will probably create a more slippery stamping surface

I did this part of the project outside (and still ended up with paint all over myself since it was a little breezy!). Again, set the mats aside to let them dry. The manufacturer of this brand indicated that the approximate dry time was 15 minute or so.

Now comes the fun part! Decorate the cork mats using stamped images. I found that the three step Daisy image makes gorgeous coasters. Here, I used a combination of Brilliance and VersaMagic inks (Pink Grapefruit, Pearlescent Poppy, Pearlescent Crimson, and Jumbo Java for the flower, Tea Leaves and Hint of Pesto for the leaves).

The stamped image will not be perfectly solid because the cork isn't a completely flat, even surface. I think that makes these look

To stamp the leaves, I created a mask with a sticky note. I placed the mast over the flower, then stamped the leaves where I wanted them.

Let the coasters dry overnight, then used a heat tool to finish setting the ink.

I tested the coasters at my office one day with a glass of water. The images didn't run and stayed colorfast.

I'll have more samples to share this month after the new Kitchen Sink Stamps August releases are available. I used one of the new sets to make a pretty set of coasters that will be perfect to use at my family's beach house. I also have a bunch of other ideas for things to do with stamped cork pieces, like creating a trivet or decorating a bulletin board.

Please let me know if you give the project a try or if you have any questions about the tutorial. Happy stamping!