Cheap, Literature Related, DIY Last Minute Gift
This is a quick update for all of you late Christmas shoppers with holes in your pockets. This makes for a great gift, especially if you don't know what to get for someone or if you have little time to buy presents. This is an easy, do it yourself, crafty, and fun gift. Well, I like to give presents to all my family and we are quite large, so it is always important to save a bit. So instead of buying a bunch expensive stuff, I thought it be better if this year I make them something nice and inexpensive. I know this is not a writing related article, but I decided to share this with you before it was too late to give out our Holiday presents.
In my family I have a lot of coffee/literature lovers, so I decided to make them sharpie mugs with literature references of their liking. I'll leave the instructions on how to make your own.
You will need
- 1 plain, white mug from the dollar store, (It can be any mug though)
- 1 6B pencil to make your designs on the mugs, (To trace)
- Sharpie Oil based pens, (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)
- Scratch Paper
- 1 Cookie Sheet
- Oven
Method
- First wash and dry your plain mug so you have a clean area to work on.
- Draw your preferred design on the mug with the 6B pencil, redraw over it so you can see the lines better. (If you bought a white mug like me, the drawing of the design would be easier.)
- Now, shake your sharpie pens for a few seconds and open them.
- On your scratch paper, press the tip of the sharpie pen a few times until the paint comes out of it.
- Then, draw a few lines on the paper to test the pen. If your line of paint seems interrupted or too faint, put the cap of the pen on again and shake it some more.
- Once your pen is ready to use, very carefully, pass it over the design you have on pencil over the mug.
- If you mess up your design you can just wash it and scrape it off with a sponge under warm water.
- Once you are happy with the design you have created, set the mug aside to let it dry for a couple of hours
- After your mug is completely dry, place the mug on a clean cookie sheet and get it inside the oven.
- DO NOT, preheat the oven before getting your mug inside of it. The oven and the mug should heat at the same time so the mug won't crack.
- Turn your oven to 350 degrees and let it bake for 30 minutes.
- Once the 30 minutes have passed, let the mug cool down with the oven. Don't take the mug out of the oven before it is completely cold so it won't crack. Give it an hour.
- Wash your mug and adorn it to give as a present.
Ta-da! Your sharpie mug is done. Now, the mug won't be dishwasher safe, but you can still use it to drink hot beverages in it and wash it as much as you like. This is why we bake the mug, so the oil pain can penetrate the porcelain. A nice touch to top this off might be adding some goodies to the gift. I added a pack of hot cocoa with marshmallows, and some candy. What I did was to get all the goodies inside of the mug, and wrap them inside a party looting bag. This present making technique is not only good for the holidays. It is good for all occasions, and it is a nice gift for all of those book lovers in your shopping list.
These are some of the ones I made.
