Birthday gift for my sister

My sister just recently had her birthday, and I wanted to make her a gift this year.  She just recently added to her family with another little one, and I thought nothing was more perfect than to start a recipe book of her own so she could compile the best recipes she's got in one place.  But also added a personalized set of mugs for those early mornings, so she will have a fun mug for her first cup of coffee or tea.

I think they turned out perfect, and were very easy to make.












I used my silhouette to cut out the P (for her last name) in the font that I wanted, made four of them, and just used plain construction paper, nothing fancy.  In the future though I would use a sticker of some sort instead of placing them on my cups with double sided tape.  The edges around the P needed some cleaning up which would have been prevented if I had used a sticker.

I used ceramic paint that I picked up at my local craft store.  I decided blue was the color I wanted to use, and added black to darken the first color. Added white to create the lighter blue on the last layer.





I took a pencil eraser, dipped it in the first paint color, and started dotting up my cups.  After the dark paint layer dried, started with the next shade of blue.

When the third and final layer was on, and mostly dry, I removed the stencil, and started making clean edges around the P.

First used the exacto knife to scrape away the paint that bled under the P stencil.  Then took Q-tips to wipe away any extra paint to get a nice clean look.

Baked the cups at 300 degrees for 35 minutes to set the paint, and it's now permanent.

Picked up a sketch book at my local book store, and copied some of my favorite recipes to get her book started.  With many pages left she can add all her favorites, and have the most tailored cookbook just for her and her family.


Happy Birthday Sis!