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Whoever thought it was a good idea to give coasters a metal lining did not test their product before marketing it.

I must be one of the few fools to buy them without realizing how awful these coasters would actually work. I just thought they looked nice. However, if there is any condensation that drips down onto these metal-lined coasters, the coaster will get stuck to the cup, and will rise with the cup when it is picked up. But it will not stay stuck for long. Oh no. Shortly thereafter, it will come crashing/splashing down on the poor unsuspecting drinker.

Sadly, I’ve lived with these annoying coasters for more than a decade and decided it was high time for a cheap makeover to make them work better.

Honestly, I planned on buying new coasters, but in the process of researching them, I saw many cork board coasters – and that spurred my imagination.

Cork board is quite cheap and soaks up drips well, so I just needed to think of a fashionable way to add cork to these existing coasters.

I got out a roll of clear scotch tape and that size of the roll’s circle appeared to be about the right size for making cork circles to glue into the metal, but when I cut them out, the edges of the cork were too choppy. I wanted some way to finish them off with some pizzazz.

Then I remembered that I had melted old crayons into new crayons with my daughter last month, and we had plenty more left over. That could add color to the coasters, make the choppy edges less obvious, AND double (triple?) as a glue to keep the cork stuck to the metal on the coasters!

So I cut the circles into three slices to add interest.

Then I placed stripped crayons on top of the coaster, popped it in the oven at 250, and waited for the crayons to melt (about 10-15 minutes).

Once the crayons were melted, I immediately placed the cork circle slices on top and let the melted crayons cool. And voila! Funky crayon cork coasters, kid approved!

The metal-lined coasters will never again embarrass me with their behavior around guests.

I really enjoyed this upcycle project!