DIY: Monogram Mugs

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

Friends! I’m so pleased to share our first gift DIY of the season. Maude made these fantastic monogrammed mugs over the weekend. Don’t they look terrific? The idea came when we saw these fun initial cups at Anthropologie and remembered our kitchen was lacking in hot cocoa mugs. We decided to create a whole set.

It’s a very doable project. Inexpensive. Eco-friendly. And family-friendly too — these mugs are dishwasher safe. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

1) We started with a trip to Goodwill, where we collected 8 plain white mugs. Enough for the entire family. There was even a little one without a handle that we thought would be perfect for baby food for June. Mugs were 50 cents each and we had dozens and dozens to choose from.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

2) Then we gathered supplies. Scissors, pen, tape, graphite transfer paper, Black Pebeo Porcelaine Pen in Fine Point ($4 at Michaels, also available here) and a print out with the family’s initials.

For the font, I had something very specific in mind. I love the look of this Sketch Block Font and had it mentally filed away as the sort of thing a kid could replicate well — because it’s inherently imperfect. For this project, it worked like a charm! Since we were adding our own sketchiness, I started with a similar, but non-sketchy Rockwell font. Look for any slab-serif font (with names like Egyptian or Glypha) and they should work equally well.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

3) Cut out an initial and a piece of transfer paper. Tape the initial and the transfer paper (dark side down) to the mug.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

4) Trace the initial. Any pen or pencil will work and you’ll want to experiment with different pressures to see what’s best. You’ll just need a light outline. If you want, you can make your own transfer paper by rubbing a graphite pencil all over a sheet of plain paper.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

5) Take your Porcelaine pen and trace over the lines of the initial. Get the edges nice and thick then fill in with diagonal sketchy strokes. A few notes:
– The sketchy strokes look best if they’re all one direction.
– The pen didn’t produce very smooth lines for us — which was fine because of the sketchy nature of the lettering. But later, I tried a red Porcelaine pen and produced very smooth strokes. So, I’m thinking my black pen was an old, dried out one. Who knows? This was my first experience with Porcelaine, so I’m not sure.
– It helped to have a blank paper handy where we could test the paint pen.
– We definitely got better at it as we practiced. So plan on it. Until it’s baked, the paint will scrub right off in soap and water. We redid mugs at least 4 times.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

6) Once the lettering is done, let the mugs sit for 24 hours. Then bake them at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. It’s fine to bake them with graphite residue. The graphite will wipe right off even after they’re done baking.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

7) And that’s it! Once they’re baked, they’re done. We pulled them from the oven, wiped them up and they were ready to go. For fun, we filled cellophane bags with hot cocoa mix and marshmallows and put them in the mugs.

DIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design MomDIY monogram mugs featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

The project turned out so well that it has my mind spinning with other possibilities. Maybe we’ll make a monogrammed mug for their teachers with a Starbucks card inside. Or a matching 2-cup set for Grandma and Grandpa. Fun for Christmas, but equally fun for other events too.

What do you think? Is this a project your kids would enjoy? Are the mugs cool enough that you would buy one in the store if you saw it for sale?

Need more sibling gift ideas? We made several fun projects this year: Bleached Out TeesBottlecap MagnetsCustom Leather Patches and Photo Snowglobes. You can also find a list of projects from past Christmases here.

203 thoughts on “DIY: Monogram Mugs”

  1. These are beautiful. I would definitely buy them if I saw them. I love that they are slightly imperfect. I do not have kids, but I know I’ll have fun making a bunch as Christmas presents this year.

  2. I just found your blog via Happenstance and then I saw this project…oh my gosh, I absolutely love it. These will be perfect for my daughter (17) to make for all her friends. I love all your step-by-step directions, answering my questions as I read each one…and the beautiful photos to go along with the directions. And yes, I would buy one of these. I love your even more than the ones at Anthropologie…for some reason–and maybe they are supposed to remind you of this, but they look like shaving mugs. I love how you made them for your family and even the sweet little one for the baby. So happy to have found your beautiful blog today!

    annie

  3. made these today…wound up with brand new ink pens that were all dried up, but bought the little thing of the same thing as paint+brushes instead, and it worked great! such a cute, fun, homemade gift for the holidays…thanks!

  4. I love this! My daughter is always drinking hot cocoa from one of my mugs, which I collect mugs, so she’s not really allowed to use any of them. This is going to have to be one of her birthday or Christmas gifts (they’re 7 days apart) this year. Thank you for sharing.

  5. This is on my list of gifts to make this year. Great idea, thanks for the inspiration! I’m wondering if you could share the cocoa mix recipe you used. Of course I’ve given it a Google search but I’m curious about something tried and true.

  6. My family also makes gifts for one another. We started 15 years ago and I get stumped sometimes trying to think of something. Thank you for your post. I am going to do the mugs for my brother in law that is a huge fan of hot cocoa!

  7. Cool idea, but I have a question:
    Will plain old permanent markers work, like a fine-tip Sharpie? Limited resources over here, so I would appreciate the advice.
    They look super awesome!

  8. Could this work with the “Painters” pens that you can get from Wal-Mart & JoAnn’s? I couldn’t find the porcelaine pens at Michael’s. :/

  9. Hello! Great gift idea! I too am living in France and would love to be able to do this here. Could you tell me if the things to make the cups can be found here?

  10. What a wonderfully, creative idea! My mind is reeling as I think of all the possibilities! Friends, family, businesses that you deal with but just don’t know what to get for them, and neighbors. Then as you said, teachers, as well. The list could go on and on. I’m wondering if this would work on glasses. I have a group of girls that I would love to do this for but would like to do it on drinking glasses. Hmmm…may have to research that idea. Thank you for sharing :)

  11. So cute! I’ve used porcelaine pens before, and the black ones are always a piece of crap! The other colours are fine, but I really struggle (just as you did) with the black ones – I have no idea why this is.

  12. Thanks so much for this post! My daughter and I are making these for family this year and they are so much fun. We strayed a little from the monogram and did a cat for the cat lover in the family and we are gong to try a few other designs today..You can see a photo on my blog.

  13. What a great idea!

    Okay, I got all the supplies but my pens won’t work. Has anyone had the same problem? I have pushed them for 30 minutes and nothing! I will bring them back this week but wondered if there were brands or kinds that worked better. Thank you. I love the idea and was going to give these out at our Christmas Dinner that we have the weekend before Christmas. I thought they would make the kiddos feel special.

  14. So awesome! Am making some right now! I love finding the mugs in thrift shops! Just a question– the porcelain pen says that after hours it’s dishwasher
    safe— so why bake it?? Should I still? Will the mugs crack if they don’t say “oven safe” am worried about that.
    Dishwasher safe

  15. I love this idea and just did six of them for my kids’ teachers! My son (who is 5) wrote his name on the other side and I wrote the date. This is a wonderful idea, I love it!! Thank you for sharing.

  16. Absolutely love all the sibling gift ideas! I can’t wait to start some with the kiddos :-) May be after the Christmas ;-) Thank you!

  17. I saw those same mugs and thought they were great. Now, I know on one of my Goodwill trips, I need to start collecting white mugs. These look great. I’ve never used the transfer paper or that pen, but I can think of all kinds of things to do with it. We have bought each of the kids mugs with their photos all over it, but the initials are oh so cute.

  18. Wow this is AWESOME!! Thanks so much. I’ve been trying to come up with cool, cheap, and easy gifts for Christmas and this is perfect! I’m going to try several different colors, with a more girly monogram and a cool design around the rest of the cup. <3

  19. I found these on pinterest and made them a couple days ago. I had everything but the porcelaine pen. My local craft stores didn’t carry them. But Hobby Lobby suggested I try a shapie paint pen. So far so good!

  20. I made these too but must have done something wrong since after baking the letters are coming off when I wash the mugs. Oh dear. I baked for 35 mins at 300 degrees. Should I try longer?

  21. OMG! I have so many coffee, cocoa and soup drinkers in my family and this will be such a great idea for individualized Christmas gifts maybe next year. Or if I can’t wait, for their birthday’s throughout the year! Thank you SO SO SO much for sharing this wonderful idea!

  22. These are such a great idea! I will definitely be trying this soon!
    Thanks for sharing such a great tutorial!
    -Anna
    shinelikeglitter.blogspot.com

  23. Love this! I can’t wait to try it! Don’t know where I can get my hands on the pen here in Italy, but will do my best to hunt it down. Gratzie!

  24. Hi!
    Can you “clean up” the extra markings after you put them in the oven? If so, how is this possible without messing up the initial itself?

    Please share- can’t wait to do this for the holidays! I purchased mugs today. =)

  25. i was just curious what kind of mugs to use i bought ceramic mugs with glaze/clear coat already applied i just wanted to make sure the porecelaine pens will stick and be able to be baked on that type a mug?
    please someone heeelp lol
    thanks,
    amanda

  26. This is such a wonderful idea! We don’t spend a lot of money on gifts…we have four children and eight grandchildren…but I love to give them all presents. Making gifts is rewarding in so many ways…I love to do it and everyone seems to love receiving them. This project is definitely on my list this year! Thank you!

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