Photo Coasters

All Within the Home
by All Within the Home
4 Materials
$10
24 Hours
Easy

Want a new way to display your family photos or recent vacation? Try making these easy photo coasters using some left over canning materials, resin, and your favorite photos.

You really do not need a lot of materials to make these coasters. I know canning materials are in hot demand or at least they were in September when it was canning season, lids and rings were hard to come by. If you do any canning at home you can use new ones that were left over or wash up your used lid and reuse a ring. You can use wide or regular mouth depending on how big your photo is you want to display. I used wide mouth lid and rings. Here is the material list:


  1. Photo
  2. Canning Lid and Ring
  3. Resin kit
  4. hot glue gun


I have a photo printer that I got with my digital camera so if you cannot print at home you can always get cheap prints at Costco, Shutterfly, Walgreens, Walmart, etc.

First thing you do after you select your photo is put your lid over top of the subject you want to showcase. Use a pen and outline around the ring.

Now that you made your pen line just use a pair of scissors and cut around the line.

I didn't get a picture but you will want to hot glue your lid in your ring to prevent the resin seeping out the bottom when you get to that point. The hot glue will help create a tight seal on the bottom.

When your lid has been glued in, slide in your photo you cut out.

Follow the directions of the resin to start your mix.

This was my first time using resin and you do have to go slow to prevent air bubbles from creating. I didn't read that the first time and ended up having to make another mix. Learn from me and read all the instructions if you haven't worked with resin before so you don't waste material like I did.

Put your photo coaster on a paper plate in case some resin does seep out, it won't be stuck all over your countertop. Pour your resin in and let it be for about 24 hours. I poured my resin just shy of the top of the lid.

Once it is dried, set it out on your side table and get ready to get some compliments! You could spray paint the rings to match your decor. I chose to stick with the original gold ring because with my fall photo it seemed to go well together.

My husband needed one to rest his Dr. Pepper on when he is watching his favorite team this fall. For the football coaster, I just kept the original silver ring. You can cut out a piece of felt and put it on the underside of your coasters if you don't want people flipping them over to see the "Ball" logo or whatever canning brand you use!


I just had a comment from one of the Hometalk viewers that suggested looping ribbon on the back of the coaster and using these for Christmas ornaments! What a great idea! These also have a little bit of weight to them so you could also use them as a paper weight in your office - if anyone uses those anymore, maybe a fun way to make placecards / gift for your dinner party...I love to hear what you would use yours for! Have fun creating this project!

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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 5 questions
  • Jch41815428 Jch41815428 on Dec 21, 2021

    I did these and after a week, the resin is still tacky. What’d I do wrong????

  • Kara Beitz Kara Beitz on Nov 06, 2023

    This is a fun idea. We did this with 3 lids and gave to our parents 50 yrs ago when I was in kindergarten. We painted them gold and attach a red ribbon to all 3. How treasures come around again.

  • Kay Cloninger Kirby Kay Cloninger Kirby on Nov 18, 2023

    Could you put something around the ring and on top of the lid to keep the resin from sticking and just have a clear picture without the lid and ring

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  • Mad52964700 Mad52964700 on Nov 07, 2021

    Just to give you one tip: when working with resin, to avoid the bubbles, use your hair-dryer (on heat but without much wind) to make them pop after you pour it, or put the piece on top of a vibrator. If there are not too many bubbles (it is best to let the resin set a bit before pouring it) it is enough to tap on the side. Best of luck!


  • Elena Elena on Dec 18, 2022

    This would be a good project for the kindergarten thru high school pics or the baby to what ever age you want photos to hang on your wall or put a magnet on them for refrigerator pictures. The Christmas ornament idea is great but might be a bit heavy. Maybe a plexiglass round would be better for the weight of an ornament or some circles cut from laminatinating plastic , I guess you could even cold laminate the picture and not hurt the colors….come to think of it, maybe just heat laminate the picture , clear contact paper would work too. As far as the condensation from drinks, maybe a removable felt piece to outline around the inside would be an idea, that way it collects the drips and you can then let the felt dry afterwards. There’s ways around everything if you just think about it long enough. Anyway, going to try this, all of the ideas seem like a good kid project. Thank you, because I have a ton of lids and the jars have been broken or just missing.

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