Here is the second DIY gift I made for the holidays was DIY Scrabble Coasters. This was one of my first pins ever on pinterest. I got the initial idea from Krysta at domestic for dummies.

Originally I was just going to make a set for myself but then my brother and sister-in-law moved into a new house that has a nice bar in the basement. I was already getting them repurposed Svedka Tumbler set I had bought for them from the bottle mill for their bar and this was the perfect gift to go with them.

Instructions:
Like always, if you want the quick instructions scroll down towards the bottom of this post.

The first and most difficult part of this project was figuring out what words to use. I wrote out a list of every 3-4 letter word that had to do with drinks or drinking that Alex and I could think of. I then sorted them into six groups of words. Using a letter frequency counter online to calculated how many of each letter I was using. Then I looked up the letter count in both a normal scrabble set and a super scrabble set. Being an engineer I made a spread sheet to calculate how many sets I was going to need.

After buying the super scrabble set I played around with all the extra letters I had. I ended up making a total of 12 coasters. Some more relevant to drinking then others. Here are the word groups I ended up with:

Here are the words that I didn’t end up using:

    mint, pub, cask, malt, body, dark, nose, bomb, red solo cup, tap, gin, milk, rum, gone
 
I am still planning on making a set for Alex and I. We are really into endurance events so I am going to make a few with word that deal with that. Here is what I got so far:

    feet, foot, nuun, tri, bike, swim, run, pace, mile, lap

After I was done finagling all of the letters, I used started gluing the letters together one but one.  In attempt to get the pieces as level as possible I used a square for the two edges.

I learned pretty quick that scrabble pieces are not all the same size so I ending up with jagged ends. Being at my parent’s house for the holidays, I asked my dad if he had a sander I could use to even out the edges and he did! He
actually had a homemade circular saw bench that my grandpa made. It worked perfectly for what I needed.

Next I laid the coasters on newspaper and strayed them with the clear coat. I did two coats waiting a hour in-between.

After the clear coat was dry, I used the cutting board and box cutter to cut the shape of the coaster into the cork adhesive.

I then stuck the adhesive side to the back of the coaster.

The end… I was done.  I ended up wrapping them in the letter bag that the game comes with. It will make a perfect storage area for when they are not in use.

Quick instructions:
    1. Sort letters
    2. Super glue letters together using square 
    3. Sand edges to make flat (optional) 
    4. Apply two coats of clear coat 
    5. Cut out cork in the shape of the coaster 
    6. Stick cork to back of coaster 
    7. Have a drink, you are done!

Now that Christmas is over and all my gifts are given I can post the few DIY gifts that I made for friends and family.  The first is a very popular DIY on pinterest, DIY crayon art. I have come across many different versions of this project. My favorite is this one:

I really love how the colors pop on the black background. The project posted was not linked to any website. 

DIY Crayon Art

Instructions:
Here is the process I went through to make this. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the quick instructions.

I started by painting two coats of black paint on the canvas.  

The next step is to sort the crayons into the order you want them. I used The Crayon-Bow, Crayola Color Chart, 1903-2010 from datapointed.net to put my crayons in order.  

The glitter and gel crayons in the 84 park were not on this chart, I just placed them were they looked best.  

If you are using an 96 pack of crayons you have to discard 37 crayons. I started by taking out the darker colors because they were going to be used on the black background. Then I tried evening out the colors without ruining the transition colors.  This was the most time consuming part of this project for me. 

Starting at one end of the color spectrum I started hot gluing the crayons to the canvas one by one. I did this by applying a line of glue to the bottom of each crayon and then quickly sticking it to the canvas so the bottom of the crayon with aligned with the top to the canvas.  I then applied another line of glue on the side of the crayon before sticking on the next crayon in the order. 

 Next I used a sponge brush to sponge on the word DREAM to the bottom corer of the canvas. I practiced this on scrap papers to get a good size and consistency. I used the sponge brush to make the words come out cloud looking.  

I then propped the canvas against the wall at a slight angle. I placed shopping bags around the canvas to protect the wall and the floor. 

I started at the left end of the crayons heating them up with a hairdryer. Heating about 8-10 crayons at a time. The longer you heat one area the longer the drips are going to be. I kept my hairdryer on low. Be careful on how far away from the crayons and how low on the crayons you blow with the hairdryer because the melted crayon splatters easy.  

I went back after and melted areas again to get longer streaks. You just have to work with it for a while to get exactly what you are looking for.  You can even melt farther down on the drips to get a more smeared look.  This took about 30 minutes to complete.

I had to transport this back to Chicago because it was a Christmas gift for my friend Rachel. I had to put in in my checked bag (protected by a box) and was so concerned about all the crayon getting knocked off during the flight. After taking it out of its box in Chicago only one drip had fallen off and a few bottoms of drips started coming up off the canvas. Super glue was an easy fix for this problem. I just stuck a little glue to the backs of all the drips I was concerned about and reglued the one that fell off.

I loved how it turned out and I already have a request from by brother to make him one for his new house. 

Quick instructions:

•   Paint canvas (if wanted)
  
•   Sort crayons 
  
•   Glue crayons to canvas using hot glue gun 
  
•   Paint word(s) at bottom (can do this after crayon melting too) 
  
•   Melt crayons using hairdryer

There are so many creative ideas to do with this project! I would love to see yours. Post pictures/links to your finished masterpiece in the comments section below.