this precious life.

I keep seeing all of these creative and simple ideas for coasters and thought I should just do a round-up:) These make fabulous and inexpensive gifts and with Christmas right around the corner I'm sure we can use all the help we can get when it comes to ideas!  Which is your favorite take on the coaster and which one{s} do you plan to make?! Decoupage Tile Coasters  via Wedding Window Braided Rug Coasters  via Dreams of Frippery Coiled Rope Coasters  via DIY Life Sliced Tree Trunk Coasters  via ehow {source} Scrabble Tile Coasters  via Intimate Weddings Chalkboard Tile Coasters  via Crazy Wonderful Cork Coasters  via How I DIY Recycled Magazine Coasters  via howaboutorange Terra Cotta Coasters  via Joyisathome Wine Cork Coasters  via Heart Made Blog

If you didn't see it, here's the "behind the scenes" story for this project.  {next time I make these I think I want to do a complete mismatch of fabrics!} Now to get to work! To make one coaster, you'll need:          Nine 17" strips of fabric (these make 3 roughly 12" braids which in turn make coasters that are roughly 3 3/4" in diameter) Take any three strips of fabric and lay one on top of the other. Safety pin together and then either have someone hold it or safety pin it to the knee of your jeans while you braid. Stitch the end of the braid (it's okay if you have a few tails) Then trim the excess fabric. Repeat until you have at least three braids to work with. Using a needle and thread, begin with one braid and stitch it to itself-- working in a circle (think of rolling up ribbon or yarn, only on a flat surface). Then just add each braid until you're finished. Definitely try to keep your stitches hidden on ...

  I just made a set of these for my Grandma {for her birthday} so I thought I'd post a tutorial... but maybe I should start this off with a story from "behind the scenes". Like every project I've been privileged to work on, these were so much fun to make! And not difficult either. { I'm thinking I should start a rating scale for the difficulty of a project instead of telling you all that they are easy. But truly, I like things that look amazing but are really simple to make so most of the projects I write about *really are* easy:) } {from Ruche } I made one of these coasters for the first time back at Christmas and, me being me, I was flying by the seat of my pants with no direction at all. { I should probably look up and follow directions more often } It started with this necklace I saw in Claire's { no I don't like Claire's but I was in there with the girls } that looked a bit like this one ===> I saw it and was inspired to make on...