DIY Marbled Love Coffee Mugs Made with Nail Polish

Learn how to make these beautiful DIY Marbled love coffee mugs made with nail polish that are perfect for Valentine’s Day!

I have gotten to where I love my coffee. Rob has been getting up SO. DANG. EARLY. Because he’s got super early morning classes to teach this semester. And the only thing that keeps me from pulling my hair out as he’s trying to get ready and leave me in my peaceful slumber quietly, but failing, is that I’m headed to my freaking Keurig and getting my caffeinating on.

DIY Marbled Love Coffee Mugs

It’s a total love affair. I’ve tried many K-cups and am down to my favorite: a Texas Pecan brew. Man, oh, man, is it fabulous! I’m not technically supposed to have caffeine, but desperate measures and my go-go juice are the only things keeping me upright these days!

So, I thought it would be fun to make pretty Valentine’s Day mugs that aren’t too cheesy for gifts. I can give them to those who love coffee as much as I do. Oh, heck, I’ll probably keep at least one of them for myself 🙂

Supplies Needed for Marbled Love Coffee Mugs

• Nail polish OR Pebeo Ceramic Paint
• White mugs
• Distilled Water
• Large bowl
• Wood skewers (or similar)

This is my gang. Each color was $1, so I’ve not invested much in supplies. I don’t have fingernails to paint, so these are for crafting only, and I’m okay with that. Know that if you use nail polish, these ARE NOT MICROWAVE SAFE. Nail polish is flammable, and there is no reason to risk it. Give these to the gals at work who have a coffee pot always going or only use a machine like a Keurig. Be sure to tell your friends not to put these in the microwave.

If you’re worried they will forget or want to approach it differently, grab some Pebeo ceramic paints from the craft store. When I went to buy some, my craft store looked at me like a ding dong, so I hit the nail polish aisle while picking up my prescriptions. If I had another store to go to, I’d go the Pebeo route because it is safer, even if a bit more expensive. Either route you go, though, the concept is the same.

Swirl your paint into a bowl of distilled water. Use something like a wooden skewer to marble if you choose.

Slowly dip the mug into the water. The paint will adhere to the mug.

Use your skewer to clean the excess around the mug and pull it straight out of the water. I misplaced mine and wound up using my nearby pencil. Oops.

Look at that! Isn’t it lovely? My first mug is in the background. For that one, I dipped once, cleaned the water, and stopped.

And it looks like this. I daresay it’s my favorite. Just enough color to be enjoyable but straightforward enough not to be offending…

But the second mug I pulled it straight up and then dipped it again to cover more of the mug with the polish floating on the water’s surface.

Two things happened here: I got some crazy abstract marbling, which I love, and some bubbles that popped, giving my mug more texture than I had hoped. There’s no denying that it’s pretty cool-looking, though.

For my last mug, I dipped it in more solid paint after I put a big heart-shaped sticker on the mug. I wasn’t too keen on it, so I grabbed the fingernail polish remover to undo what I had done…

But as I did, I liked the abstract, chunky edges and decided to clean it up to have less paint on the mug, and as it turns out…

I dig it, and it’s way more Valentine’s Day if you want to get technical than the others. I prefer the others, but this method could be fun to play with.

Ultimately, I have three different mugs made with the same bowl of water and $4 of fingernail polish. Not bad, and the perfect gift for the java lovers in your life is coming on February 14!