DIY Sharpie Mugs

$1 wedding favor idea!

When I found this craft on Living Well Spending Less, I was insatiable! The idea of doodling fully personalized tableware is sublime. In fact, our friend Ana was over and sipping from a graphically pretty cup with doodles by yours truly, and she insisted that Denise and I hand-draw designs on mugs as favors for her wedding later in spring.

What You Need:

Oil-Based Sharpie Paint Markers
Mugs – they need to be microwave and dishwasher safe to ensure they will withstand the oven.
Large Cookie Sheet or Large Cooking Pan

Method:

This is absolutely the easiest and most magical transformation of something plain into something wonderfully personalized. Start by gaining inspiration for your drawing. For mine, I wanted something simple and easy to repeat on each mug for the wedding favor. Be sure to utilize the handle, the rim, the bottom, and the inside, if you like. I enjoyed drawing designs on the handle and on the inside of the cup because it sets these mugs apart from those you might have printed by a machine. Repetitive, graphic shapes, as displayed, are my favorite to use. My penmanship is pretty awful, so I studied the labels Ana and I chose for the favors, and used it as my guide, even attempting to incorporate the pretty swirly on the bottom of each Chalkboard tag.

I allowed the mugs to ‘dry’ for about five minutes, just to make sure I wasn’t going to smudge them with handling. Place the mugs on your large cookie sheet or cooking pan and pop them into the oven for 30 minutes. Next, set your oven for 350°.

After the 30 minutes, turn the oven off, and just let the mugs cool with the oven. Once the oven is at room temperature or so, you can remove the cookie sheet, use an oven mitt to remove the mugs, reload the next batch, and turn on the oven again.

I dressed the table for the semi-formal countryside wedding with white roses, and attached a special tag to each mug with a vibrant green to match the rose leaves, all atop a rich and shimmering wooden table. Along with the mugs, Ana and Theo decided to give special keepsake coasters in a coordinating color of the Vintage Chalkboard style for each guest.