Personalized "China" - Dollar Store Craft!

I saw a photo tagged on Pinterest that gave a very short, easy description on how to personalize a mug:

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/06/his-her-sharpie-mug-diy.html

Of course, I HAD to try it! So very addicted to the Dollar store now *sigh*. It keeps my crafting costs down though! So here are the supplies you will need to do this at home:

1.) Sharpie Marker
2.) Plain white dollar store ceramic mug or plate
3.) Small bowl of water
4.) Cotton pad
5.) Oven

The first thing you want to be sure of is that the plate is free from fingerprints, dirt, and/or smudges. Next, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and pick your design. I am in the midst of slowly redecorating my kitchen/dining room into an Alice in Wonderland theme, so I chose an image and phrase from the book.

Next, begin to draw out your design. If you mess up, dip the cotton pad in a bit of water and wipe the marker off; if you do it somewhat quickly, it "erases" quite easily. If you are a bit further along and decide it isn't right, you may have to scrub a little more, but the cotton pads are great at taking the marker off.

Once your design is in place and you are satisfied with how it turned out, bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I went out and mowed the lawn and accidentally left it in the oven longer than 30 minutes, but it still turned out beautifully:

I haven't tried using other colors of Sharpie yet, but I am thinking I need a mug to match so I am going to try them. I would imagine it would work the same way, and Sharpies come in lots of different shades which means this project can be personalized in lots of ways. This would also be a great gift idea and is something most children could do with supervision.

I have a few more crafts to post including more of the stuff I found in the shed, so stay tuned!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

This week, I have been covering in the church office for the secretary who has been on vacation, so my crafting time has been limited. However, I did get to one of the projects I had on my list: using the empty frame, I created a little wedding vignette.

This project was really easy and cheap! The frame was probably from the dollar store, but was missing the glass. I scanned a copy of a wedding photo and cut it out in photoshop, then added text from Ephesians 5:21-33 in The Message paraphrase. I really love how it talks about husbands cherishing their wives, and wives supporting their husbands. The language is so romantic! Any romantic poetry or verse can be used, song lyrics or even an old love letter would work for this part. When I was happy I printed it.

For the matting, I took an awesome silvery printed Tiffany looking sheet of card stock and ModPodged it to the mat. I used a craft knife to cut it after I glued it so it was the perfect size. The rings were tied to a ribbon and draped across the top corner of the frame. The men's ring was one that I found when the former owners moved out of the house - they had left it in a jar of nails. The "diamond" ring was one I had since I was a kid, and I love the touch of sparkle it adds (though I wish my wedding ring diamond was that size, hehe!) and both rings echo the silver in the matting.

Lastly, I added the year we were married on a little placard at the bottom of the frame. I really love how it turned out! This month my husband and I will have been married 14 years (!) and I wanted to do something special to honor that.

I have moved over 11+ times in the 14 years we've been married, so a lot of my wedding stuff has been broken, lost, or destroyed, but I do want to try and make a wedding shadow box at some point. I think this is a wonderful project to preserve this memory though, even if much of our things haven't survived to make it into that shadow box.

If you have a project like this or try this one out, post a link in the comment below and show it off. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Happy 4th!