Beautiful Blooms Chipboard Coasters

I was recently gifted with a pack of 3-inch square chipboard pieces, and they were super cute, but I didn't quite know what to do with them. Then it occurred to me that they would make charming coasters using some of the new PaperArtsy stamps by Gwen Lafluer.  I had recently made a pretty, impressionistic journal page with the stamps over some pastel splashes of background color. So, I set about creating a similar look on the little squares.

Here's the journal page that inspired the project:

To begin, I mixed up some of my favorite colors and started painting random brushstrokes on the chipboard squares. My favorite color is yellow, so I made loose, impressionistic flowers and added a little pale aqua to suggest sky and light olive green to suggest leaves and stems. The painted squares looked pretty all by themselves, but I knew they'd also look wonderful with stamps on top.

I started with my favorite stamp from set EGL27: the mum.Here's some of the steps I took:

Once the yellow group was painted and stamped, I decided to use shades of pink, lilac, and green for the roses and other stamps in the set. Again, I painted random strokes of color, let it dry, then played with the stamps on top using black Archival Ink.

 

 I also added dots of color here and there with my Posca Paint Markers for some extra pizzaz.

With the base being chipboard, which is basically a pressed paper product, I was worried about what would happen with a wet drink on the squares. So, I used some gloss medium to protect the design, and after it was dry, used two layers of Versamark Ink with Seth Apter's Vintage Beeswax Embossing Powder by Emerald Creek.

The two layers of Vintage Beeswax gave a beautiful glossy finish to the coasters and enhanced the colors. I tested them out with several of my glasses, and while they're a little smaller than the average coaster, they still fit nicely. 

I am looking forward to some spring and summer dinning to show off my new creations!