$1.00 Place Mats Upgrade

I've had a hard time finding place mats to match my dining room so when I found these that were the right color, at $1.00 each, I grabbed them knowing I was going to give them an "upgrade"!


Using rubber stamps (clear stamps in this case) and a StazOn ink pad, I stamped the images on the mats.

StazOn is a permanent ink that I really use for almost any stamping in black (although it does come in a few other colors) because it IS permanent and gives nice, sharp images.

Once I finished all of the stamping, I decided to heat set the designs to just make them as permanent as possible.  I covered each image with a scrap of cotton fabric and with a hot, dry iron, went over them.

I decided to continue the "upgrade" by stitching on some black, glass beads.  I started at the back of the mat, bringing the needle to the top, threading on a bead and then returning to the back.  Once I was on the back again, I would "slide" the needle IN BETWEEN the layers of the mat to hide the thread and then come UP again where I wanted the next bead.  This way, there are no long, black threads on the back of the mat.

The final step was to give them all several coats of Scotchguard Fabric Protector because while I CAN wash these and lay flat to dry, I don't want to have to wash them everytime we use them.  This way, liquids bead up and they can be damp wiped after each use.  Note: Scotchguard is VERY potent -- I took these out to my garage and sprayed them and left them to dry before bringing inside.  Once dry, you will not be able to smell anything.

 Happy Easter everyone!