Turn your Achievement Medals into Coasters – REALLY EASY!

I just finished moving. I had only lived in my previous place for 2.5 years, and somehow still felt like I’d accumulated so much STUFF. (Most of it is coming in handy, however, so now I don’t feel so bad, haha)

There’s one thing that I still didn’t know what to do with until last week!

Medal coaster

Medals. The kind you get for actually winning and placing is pretty awesome, but I’m in possession of three generic, congrats-you-finished-and-we-don’t-care-about-your-time medals from two 5k’s and a mud run. I don’t need these hanging on a wall or bulletin board. So they just sat.

But last week, I observed that my coworker’s coaster (< a href=”http://www.twitter.com/bumblethunder”>@bumblethunder) was, in fact, a marathon medal! He said it came that way, with a foam ring on the backside and everything. I expressed interest in recreating it, so we discussed a bit.

I mean, you could just take the ribbon off and put it on the table, but it’d totally scuff and scratch the surface. Isn’t the point of a coaster to protect your surfaces? So, a little editing would be needed! Still, there’s no way it could be difficult.

Hey guess what! IT WAS REALLY REALLY EASY! You could do things a lot less crudely (like fill and cover the medal with a resin to make it all pretty and smooth) and come up with some super sweet results, but I’m just going to lay down the basics 🙂

Things you’ll need:

  • Your medal
  • Self-stick furniture felt pads
  • (OR felt or kiddy crafty foam sheet thing + hot glue/some other adhesive)
  • Scissors
  • Pliers
  • Pencil (optional)

Step 1: Prepare your medal – Take only the medal

You’ll have to take off the sweet ribbon it came with, as well as any connecting metal rings. Most rings will have an opening that was squeezed shut. Use pliers to open up the ring and remove your medal.

Step 2: Prepare your felt pads – End up with three felt pads per medal

My coworker actually gave me some felt furniture pads he found lying around his house. They’re from Ikea (called FIXA). The small ones look to be about 3/4″ in diameter, which is pretty big for this project, so I used only one and cut it into thirds.

If you’re using craft foam or regular felt with an adhesive, cut three small squares or circles or rectangles or triangles or trapezoids or whatever’s easiest that is fairly substantial. Not teeny strips, you want a little support here! The width to aim for is just a little over 1/4″. They don’t have to be pretty.

Cut your feet

Mark your lines with a pencil if you’d like. Cutting something into thirds took my brain a second to figure out 😉 Think peace sign.

You can go a little larger for larger medals, too. Remember, you’re going for support, but not too much to make the bottom uneven.

Step 3: Secure the felt pads to the back of the medal

Place your feet

Spread out the pads as evenly as possible near the edge of the medal, leaving only a little room at the edge. You don’t want it to show too much, but more importantly, you don’t want the weight of a cup to tip it over, either!

Make sure the medal is clean to get the best stickage. Once you’re satisfied with the placement, glue ’em down, or if using the self-stick kind, simply peel and stick!

Let your adhesive dry according to its instructions.

Turn over, test it out with a cup, slide it around the table and observe how it doesn’t make that awful scratchy sound or scuff up your surfaces! Yay!

Now, you can show off your accomplishments in a smooth and productive way!

*Achievement unlocked* I should get a medal for this 😉

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