My husband Jon and I have loads of nerdy friends who make their way to our new house once a month to play Magic: The Gathering. Sometimes after kicking the weekend off with a game of Dungeons & Dragons.
The five-to-eight people we host drink a lot: soda, beer, OJ in the morning. My industrious husband decided we needed more coasters, but instead of buying them, he took old cards and put them in the hard plastic sleeves new cards are shipped in. Magic card coasters for our Magic weekends? Perfect.
Really, this project could not have been any easier for two not-very-crafty individuals. Here’s how it works.
Step One: Collect plastic holders and clean them. Goo Gone works well for tape residue.
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Step Two: If you’re using Magic cards, Lands cards work wonderfully. Pick a variety of Lands with pretty pictures. Choose one that you really like for the top card, and two others that won’t be seen; we used three cards to to get the thickness we needed.
Make sure they all have the same color border — white bottom borders will stand out when the top is black.
Step Three: Use super glue or acrylic medium to glue all three together.
Step Four: Insert cards in sleeves.
Step Five: …Profit.
We originally planned on sealing them, but never got around to experimenting with sealant options. Turns out they work just fine. If anyone spills, well, they’re cheap Lands cards.
This would work well with any cards or card games. The plastic sleeves are easy enough to get online if you don’t have a local card store. They also serve as a great conversation piece when non-Magic playing friends and family come to visit. Mostly, it’s another way for us to make our house ours.
Those are great! I haven’t played Magic in years and never got seriously into it but one thing I did love was the pictures on the cards. I always felt kind of sorry for the lands because they’re so over looked but the artwork is at least as amazing as all the others, especially for someone like me with a soft spot for landscapes.
The other cool thing is it’d work with all kinds of cards, so there’s lots of options for personalised coasters!
Really cool aesthetically, and an awesome nerdy idea… … … but man oh man did I shudder over this post! Not only gluing MTG cards together (even Lands need love…) but then using them as coasters! The shame! 🙂
Well it was a sacrafice I was willing to make for the group (plus there was no way I’d use my Mon’s Goblin Raiders!!)
i think i just found something amazing to do with the two sets of pinup girl playing cards i dont use….
love this idea! i’ll have to try and convince the hubs that this would a be a neat idea, and you know, not a destructive one 🙂
If you got crazy with it, you could buy some el-cheapo cork board or foam board from a craft store, and then glue/modge-podge/otherwise seal the cards to the top of that. Very permanent, but possibly would be better at keeping liquids from pooling and sliding off the plastic cover.
Ooh, my husband and I used to play Magic, and I loved the land cards. Island and Forest were my favorite art. Since you get so many with each pack of cards, I think this is a great idea.
This is a cool idea! I have some Sailor Moon cards that I wouldn’t mind turning into coasters. Thanks for the how-to!
Instead of making two you never see, you could easily make it a double sided coaster by turning over the bottom card. I guess I just really like the pretty pictures. I only collected Magic Cards because I liked the pictures.
I used a similar idea to make a 5 card deck for my 18 mo old 🙂
that’s brilliant!! i have a ten month old that is utterly fascinated by the cards, since she has spent so much time in my lap as i play. she watches all her siblings play. she reeeaaaalllly wants to touch the cards. i will have to make her a little deck of sorts now. 🙂