Happy Campers DIY Sharpie Mugs

We have been working so hard to get our camper ready for the July show and it's coming down to the wire. Luckily, we work well under pressure (sort of) since we are planning to drop the camper off in Brimfield in three days and we haven't even started the floor yet and have a few other things left to do. As with any renovation, there have been bumps along the way and some unexpected issues but we are really excited about how it's coming along. 

In the meantime, here is a sneak peek at a part of the camper I love:

You can see glimpses of some of the changes we made. I'm really excited to do full before and after shots but we aren't quite ready for that yet. 

In the meantime, I did this fun little project. See those mugs on the counter? I made them. Well, made is a stretch. I bought them at Walmart. But I did decorate them myself. As you can see, I'm not really an artist. My sister would have done a much better job. I also could have bought some really cute ones on Etsy (here, here or here) but I wanted the camper to look like ours so I did them myself. Here's how!

Materials: 

Set of oil based Sharpie markers and plain white ceramic mugs. 

(You can get both from Amazon)

Instructions:

Well, there's not much to say. From my quick middle of the night research it seemed like the most important thing was to use oil based markers and not regular ones. Then I just did a few practice drawings of our basic camper shape on paper to see if I was even capable of drawing it at all. I tried a few different designs for the "Happy Camper" part and decided on one. 

Then I drew the design on the mugs with a pencil just to get the size and placement the way I wanted. I used two pieces of masking tape to get the top and bottom lines of the camper parallel with each other.

Once I had that done I traced it with the sharpies. 

They sort of look like a kid did them but that's ok!

Finally, I baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (I did it twice). According to this tutorial, it's best to leave them in while the oven is heating up and until after it has cooled down to avoid cracking. I doubt these will ever be dishwasher safe but I may spray them with clear spray paint to protect my masterpieces. If I do, I'll cover up everything except the actual designs since clear spray paint isn't something I want in my mouth! 

Now the only other problem is that I might be addicted to making these. I already have a dozen ideas for different ones I want to make. They would make great gifts and the design possibilities are endless! Check out my board on Pinterest for some inspiration!

Let me know if you are going to give this a try. I would love to see the results. 

Thanks for following!

Kaitlin