What grandparent does not appreciate gifts made by the grandchildren? What can three kids make that will not cost a fortune? But more importantly, what can they make that a grandfather would actually appreciate?
My dad is at that stage in life where there is not much that he wants or needs. He has a closet full of shirts and owns every tool known to man. For his birthday this year, I opted for something a little different. I gathered all three of his grandkids (a feat within itself) and had each of them decorate a tile coaster for him.
To begin the project I headed to the local hardware store and picked up 4 inexpensive bathroom tiles ($0.17 each). At home I pulled out my supply of acrylic paint. Each one was allowed to paint anything they wanted. As you can see they each picked something very different. My son opted for the Alabama state flag, and drew his with Sharpie permanent markers – he decided it was not cool to paint with the cousins when you are 14. The girls put a little more effort into their tiles (the bottom left is the Auburn University logo).
Since there are only three grandkids, and a set of coasters usually contains four, I grabbed my paint pin and wrote on the last tile. You will also notice that each child initialed their tile in the bottom right.
Once the paint was dry, I sprayed several light coats of high gloss acrylic sealer. (This is the same sealer I used to complete the picture frames for the kids bath.)
After the sealer was dry, I cut four pieces of felt to fit the bottoms of the tiles. The felt was then adhered with hot glue. I bundled them up with a little ribbon.
This made for one happy Papa.
