DIY Oil Sharpie Mug

                                     DIY Oil Sharpie Mug

So, I've seen this around for quite some time and I wanted to try it and as in last blog I described the many people I had to gift for, and they all love coffee I decided this would be the perfect opportunity.

First things first.

WHO STARTED THE SHARPIE MUG RUMOR?

When I first seen that I was so excited! I have maybe 100 sharpies laying around here and  was it so simple to create personal eatery so easy!? 

Then I got to snooping.

Regular Sharpie markers just do not work.

But, no worries! Oil based Paint Sharpie Markers do work. :)

So whomever tried (and maybe failed) their projects using regular Sharpies, don't feel bad!

 You were pretty close! 

These little guys can get pricy, but they're well worth it! 

These run about $5 a piece, really not too bad, they last a long time and look great and unless your mug has a lot going on, you'll only need a couple or even just one. 

I bought these three because I wanted some words to be thick and some details petite, I also for some reason really thought I was going to use orange on one mug...? 

Orange and black..for Christmas presents? 

Hmm..

Regular old dollar store mug! 

I got 5 of these mug from the dollar store, I liked their shape! I've heard that the cheaper the mug, the better. Since the glaze isn't exactly great, it heats we'll and absorbs the oil paint in the glaze better.
Makes sense to me!

Draw your design anyway you like!

Don't be afraid to change the design or make mistakes, if you don't like the way it looks, use a paper towel with hot soapy water and the oil paint will come off with a little scrubbing.
The shape of the mug made it harder than I thought it would to write on so I had to start over a couple of times. :)

Let your mugs dry. If you used a lot of paint, I'd say better safe than sorry and let it set overnight. 

These only had writing on them and I didn't lay it on very thick, which seems to work best. I let them dry about 5 hours (mostly because I forgot I had to bake them.) 

Put the mugs in before you preheat. 

This allowed the mug to get hot with the oven. 

Set the oven for 425,

Set your timer for 30 minutes.

After the time is up,  leave the mugs in the oven as it cools down.

These are pretty cheap mugs and the extreme heat to cool probably wouldn't be good. 

Mine were still pretty hot even when I took them out 

so I let them cool a couple hours on a pot holder. 

The finished product!! Turned out great!

I added some small details to each cup.

My friend is from Italy, and very girly, so I added tiny bows and 

"Buongiorno Bella" (Good Morning, Beautiful!) 

The mugs turned out great and all my friends loved the tiny details 

I put into each one to make them special.

That easy and so perfect for any coffee or tea lover :)

DIY Mint Sugar Scrubs

                                 Tis' The Season for giving!

 My very favorite part about Christmas is giving. I love the look on people's faces when they get a gift that's from the heart. My especial favorite is giving homemade gifts and as budgets are always tight during the holidays, sometimes homemade gifts can be a blessing. 

(Like I said, sometimes. Because sometimes it can get exhausting and expensive still!) This year I had five close girlfriends to gift and I wanted each of their gifts to be special yet frugal.

 So this year I stumbled upon and awesome idea  from Liz Foures over at love grows wild to give small jars of sugar scrub! We all have sugar right?!?

We recently got a new Jo-Ann's at the mall and I'm so happy because
they sell these beautiful little jars for $1 a piece!
 And they're sold separate so you can get as many as you need :)
 (They also have adorable tiny mason jars)
But these were bigger so that's what I went with.

As you can see, I added each of their names with an oil sharpie marker.
I didn't bake them so the names will come off, but it was mostly just to personalize it.

Here's what you're going to need!

Just these simple ingredients! 

The recipe calls for

1½ – 2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon peppermint extract

1 drop green food coloring

1/2 cup coconut oil

That's it! I heated the coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl for 20 seconds

Then added the sugar ( 1 1/2 cups) , peppermint extract and one drop of green food coloring 

(one drop makes it look all nice and minty)
Mix well in a bowl with a fork until the food coloring is even and the consistency is to your liking.
If it's too wet, that's when you add a 1/2 cup of sugar.

I added glitter to the caps with some cheap, glitter nail polish to polish it up a little. 

Add the mixture and ta-da!!! It looks and SMELLS amazing!! 

It took 2 batches to fill all 5 containers, and a little extra for me to use myself. I loved it! 

glittery top!

After I used this, my skin felt so soft and smooth and I smelled like a peppermint patty. 

If you're looking for an affordable (or even last minute) gift I would suggest this!!

Thanks again to love grows wild for this great recipe! 

DIY Brobee Costume

Yo! Halloween!

This year my daughter desperately wanted to be the character Brobee from Yo!Gabba Gabba. So I figured I would go out and buy her a cute, girly Brobee costume, right? WRONG.

Apparently, no one makes cute girly costumes for a uni-browed, fuzzy monster.
Who knew?! :) So I decided to actually make her Halloween costume myself. Now I'm not all that crafty.. and I know when I was a child, it was pretty un-cool to have your parents make your Halloween costumes. But I really wanted her to have something a little more special. Prowling around on the internet, the closest (and may I say adorable) adaptation to a girly Brobee costume was right there on the YGG fanpage here.

  I loved it so much that I actually decided to do my own version! Now her tutorial for the leggings and sleeves were a little different. She used adults socks to create them. Which is great besides the fact thay I literally could not find striped green socks anywhere! (Or at least not the right colored socks). And I'm really not good at sewing. So instead I found these long-sleeved Brobee pajamas on amazon and used them instead. They work great because they cover her up while its chilly! Also I didn't have to make or buy a Brobee face t-shirt because the pajamas already had it on there! I made the tu-tu with elastic and green/glitter tulle and weaved green striped ribbonaround the waist.
the "horns" was made from a regular green, fabric rapped headband and used three Styrofoam cones which I painted red with acrylic paint and hot-glued them to the headband. And BAM! An adorable Brobee costume for ny little girl. I would say she's pretty pleased!