By Kristin Streff Barnett 
Any time I travel (whether domestically or abroad) I find myself with several free city maps offered by the hotel or visitor’s centers. And when I get home? The maps end up on a shelf rarely to be looked at again. Let’s put these maps to good use and create cold beverage coasters for your home…
To complete this project, you will need the following supplies:
1. Travel maps
2. Four white tiles (if you are making one set of coasters). These tiles can be purchased from any home improvement store and cost around $0.13 – $0.15 each.
3. Pads or felt for the bottom of the tile
4. Modge Podge
5. Foam brush
6. Scissors
7. Pen or pencil
Steps for creating your coasters:
1. Trace the coasters on the areas of the travel map that you find most interesting or that capture the sites you visited. Cut the maps and align with the tile. It is likely that you will need to trim the map several times to be sure no edges hang over the tile.
2. Place a thin coat of Modge Podge on the tile. Be certain that you cover the area fully but don’t apply too liberally as it will cause problems later.
3. Align the paper on top of the tile and use the side of the Modge Podge bottle to roll across the top of the tile. Repeat this action several times to prevent bubbling under the paper.
4. Apply several coats of Modge Podge to the top of the map. Pay special attention to the edges of the map and be certain that each coat dries before adding another.
5. Place felt on the bottom of the tile to prevent scratching your tables.
6. Repeat steps above for each coaster. I like to mix a couple of non-map coasters (made from an assortment of scrapbook paper) in with the others for variety.
Voila! Interesting coasters to place throughout your home and commemorate your trip with a cost of less than $0.25 each! These also make great gifts for the travel bug in your life.
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