How to Make a Writable Tea Mug Gift for a DIY Valentine’s Day!

In my family, we have two types of people. You fall either into the I LOVE tea category, or you fall in the I HATE tea category. Apparently, there is no in-between. I myself belong firmly planted on the side of love. Whether we’re talking orange pekoe, earl gray, lemon zinger, chamomile, chai, or any other tea you can drudge up, I’m probably going to love it.

So, in thinking of a special someone to make a nice, personalized but inexpensive gift I very quickly began running through the things they love (besides me, of course!) When I hit on tea and thought of all of the cute sayings that could accompany I knew I had a winner. And considering that there are quite a few tea lovers out there, I just knew this would make a great DIY!

For this project you will need:

• White mug
• Glass paint marker
• Box of tea
• Valentine scrapbooking paper
• Mod Podge
• Oven

First, take a piece of paper and practice the shapes that you will want to draw on your mug. I used a sharpie to mimic the thickness of the glass markers.

Now, before we proceed, I’m going to give you the skinny about why you are using a glass paint marker instead of an everyday Sharpie. I’m sure you’ve seen and probably pinned a million projects that use a Sharpie on a white ceramic mug to make a one-of-a-kind keepsake that everyone will coo over and as long as you hand wash it it will continue to be the bomb.

The sad fact is while it will stand up to hand washing a few times, it isn’t going to last much longer than that. Plus, if you mess up and put it into the dishwasher – bam – you’ve got a white mug all over again. Trust me on this… my heart has been broken on projects like this before.

So while a Sharpie is easier to get a hold of, in fact, you probably have a couple in your home already, go out to a craft store and pick up a glass paint marker. If you have a difficult time locating them, ask someone who works in-store. They run about $5 and if you hit up a chain with 40% off coupons, they are even more affordable. FYI – I used the DecoArt brand.

First I drew on my main focal point. I drew a very large tea bag as if it were hanging out over the edge of the mug and inserted a cutesy saying numero uno – you fit me to a ‘tea’.

Next start filling in the empty space with your practiced doodles. Remember that drawing on curves can be difficult and while you may not get it perfect, it will still be perfectly loved. I promise. If you wind up with a really big mistake, take a slightly wet rag and rub the marker away. As long as you get to it pretty quickly you should be totally fine.

If you have any strange empty spaces, you can fill them with little hearts. I purchased a mug with a big flat handle on purpose – so I could write “hold me” on it!

Allow the mug to sit for about 4 hours, then place in a hot oven per your marker’s directions to heat and set the ink onto the mug (permanently).

Next, take your box of tea, open it up and remove everything inside. I purchased the Dublin Tea Company because the box worked well for my concept and because any tea lover is going to want a real cup of tea.

Take and wrap up the box in your cute V-Day paper. I used Mod Podge but you can also use tape and wrap like you would a gift. The Mod Podge will stand the test of time a bit better, I should think but the choice is yours!

On the inside of the box I wrote cutesy saying #3 – “you are my sweet tea!” I liked this part because it was cute, but mostly because I live in Oklahoma and any tea that isn’t sweet isn’t worth drinking.

Place the two items together and you have an awesome and unique Valentine’s gift. Not to mention the whole thing is cheapy, cheap. Plus you can always fill the mug with goodies, too! Until next week…

Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.