Personalised mugs make great, affordable stocking fillers. I made these for my family last Christmas but didn’t get them finished until quite late on Christmas Eve, which, I’m sure you will agree, is no time to be making christmassy blog posts. Thank goodness for #christmasinjuly! To make these you’ll need several white mugs, a ceramic pen, masking tape, carbon paper (if you don’t have this, normal paper that has been blacked out with a pencil works just as well) and a print out of whatever design you want on the mugs (I used initials).
When it came to buying the mugs I got mine from the value range at my local supermarket for about 50p each, but you can also explore charity shops for cheaper or more varied alternatives. First, use masking tape to stick the carbon out paper (black side down) onto the mug where you want the design to be, then do the same with the design but keep the design facing up. Then use a pencil to draw over the design making sure to press down firmly, this will transfer the design from the carbon paper. When you remove the tape you should have a faint outline of your design left on the surface of the mug.
Using the ceramic pen carefully trace over the lines of design, if you slip or go wrong the ceramic pen can be easily wiped away with a piece of damp kitchen towel or a wet wipe. Don’t worry about excess carbon on the mugs, as this will wash off later. Once you have the designs on the mugs transfer them to a wire wrack and bake them in the oven following the instructions on your ceramic pen (normally 30 mins at 350 degrees).
After baking remove the mugs from the oven and allow to cool completely before giving them a wash, this will avoid any cracks or damage to the ceramic. Once the mugs are cool and clean you are good to go. They are lovely gifts as they are or they can be filled with whatever takes your fancy. I filled mine with chocolates, marshmallows and hot drink portions (hot chocolate for most of the family and some nice coffee samples for my caffeine addict father), before finishing them off with cellophane and ribbon. They went down a storm on christmas morning!
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