Polished Coaster Home Decor with Artesprix

Hello there! Kristina Hein here as the Guest Designer for the month of February.  I’m super excited to be guest designing for Artesprix again this month! I’m generally a cardmaker/cross stitcher but I love to dabble with using Artesprix sublimation products. It always amazes me just how easy it is to use all of their sublimation products alongside the craft supplies I already have. I'll be showing you how you can create a decor piece from Artesprix Polished Coasters with their sublimation paint! 

**This post may contain affiliate links. That means that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher, but I may get compensated.** 
What are Sublimation Markers, Paints and Ink Pads?
Sublimation markers, ink pads and acrylic paints are made from a special type of formulation ink.  With copy paper or mixed media paper, home iron or heat press, and polyester fabric or polyester coated blank, you can create your very own sublimated project. When heat is applied it causes the inks to transfer and adhere/sink into the blank. This becomes a vibrant, permanent transfer!

Supplies:
Original Sublimation Markers
Sublimation Acrylic Paint
Color mixing chart
Protective Project Mat
Heat Tape
Protective Paper
Sublimation Ink Pad
Mixed media paper 
Masking paper
MISTI
Temporary adhesive
Spring Garden stamp from Impression Obsession
Flat Brush
E6000 adhesive
Step-by-Step Tutorial: 
Step 1: I traced around all four of the polished coasters onto separate pieces of mixed media paper with a pencil.

Pro Tip: You want a heavier paper when working with the acrylic paints.

Step 2: I mixed up the sublimation paints until I had 3 shades of pink, 3 shades of yellow, 3 shades of blue and 3 shades of purple. I painted over my traced images.  Make sure you go past your traced lines to avoid leaving unintentional blank spaces.

Step 3: Next I cut out letters from masking paper. Don’t’ forget you want the reverse image! I centered the masks on the coasters.

Step 4: I stamped over the masked letters with the Spring Garden background stamp from Impression Obsession. I used my MISTI so I could stamp it a couple times on the slightly textured paper and then I removed all the masks. I always love this part!

Step 5: Now you are ready to prep for the heat part. I flipped the coasters over to be face down against my painted pieces of paper. I added several pieces of heat tape to make sure everything stayed in place.  

Step 6: Let’s make our sublimation “sandwich”. Place one piece of protective paper on top of your heat pad. Put the coaster next, making sure it is face up.  The painted paper will be secured on top. Follow that with another piece of protective paper. Make sure the pieces of protective paper is BIGGER than your painted paper! The paper protects all of your surfaces from accidental ink transfer.

Step 7: For the Polished Coasters blank you’ll need to set your heat press to 400℉ and 60 seconds.

Step 8: After the timer runs out it’s very important to do a "peek test"! Just peel back a little bit of your design and see how well it transferred. You can carefully put it back if you need more time/heat if you have not removed any tape.

Step 9:  Reveal time!  Look at this beauty!

Step 10 (Optional): Just a few more steps to turn this into a décor piece. I had an unfinished wood piece I bought from Hobby Lobby that had circles large enough to accommodate the coasters. I used E6000 adhesive to glue each of the polished coasters onto one of the circles. Once the glue was set, I added some finishing touches. I found matching ribbon in my stash that I turned into bows. I hot glued them onto the wood circles. Then I used hot glue again to add the shaped buttons
I absolutely LOVE how my polished coaster décor piece turned out! I can’t wait to put it up with the rest of my spring decorations in a week or two.

Are you intrigued by the mesmerizing (and easy!) world of sublimation inks and markers? Then you need to take a look at the Artesprix Iron-on-Ink Inspirational Group over on Facebook. Click HERE to check it out. Want to see all the great sublimation products and blanks? Then head to the Artesprix store to do a little shopping.
It’s been lots of fun sharing my project with you today. Hope to see you soon! 
Kristina Hein
**This post may contain affiliate links. That means that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher, but I may get compensated.**