Christmas in August - Permanent Marker Designs on Mug and Plate

If you have been on Pinterest lately or ever, I am sure you have seen the plate with the recipe written on it with Sharpie.  I pinned it a while ago and when starting my Christmas crafts last week I pulled it up only to find out the link was broken; I could not get to the original source from my pin. So after some searching, I found the site that posted it originally and it says NOTHING about a sharpie anywhere. The woman used ceramic markers to decorate the plate! I know... we all just let out a collective GASP. 

Don't worry though, I did not give up that easily. This is a great gift idea for grandparents and I had to find a way to make it work this year for Christmas!


When searching online I found a few different methods that claimed you can make Sharpie drawing on mugs and plates permanent. I tested out a few different methods and here is what I found to work the best.

Important Note: The sharpie drawing becomes permanent when hand washed only...it does not withstand the strength of my dishwasher. So if you take one precaution i.e. write 'Hand Wash Only' on the bottom, this will make a great gift idea!

Materials Needed:

• Solid color mug, plate, bowl etc. I bought a white plate and mug at the Dollar Store
• Permanent markers i.e. Sharpies in various colors (I also tested one Dollar Store permanent marker and it seemed to work just as well)
• Oven

 Method:
 It really is this simple:

1. Wash and dry the plate and mug
2. Draw on plate and mug with permanent markers
3. Write on bottom 'Hand Wash Only'
4. Place items in cold oven
5. Turn oven on to bake at 350 degrees
6. Bake for 30 minutes (after it reaches 350 degrees)
7. Turn oven off
8. Let items cool in oven!

Here are a few tips I learned while making ours.
The light yellow Sharpie changed colors when baked (see how the sun is brown in the picture below)  so be aware that items might not finish the same color they start as. This was the only color that changed and my son really didn't mind.

If you pull the item out of the oven while it is still hot, the drawing can and will smudge if you touch it. So resist the urge and leave it in the oven until cool.

 Remember to write 'Hand Wash Only' on the bottom. We drew cute picture on the bottom, which is great until these dishes end up in the dishwasher and the design comes off. Our next projects will have the hand wash message on the bottom along with the cute drawings from the kids.

Don't heat the oven to 350 degrees and then throw the items in. These are Dollar Store items and probably are not meant to be heated this high. So by heating them with the oven, it prevents the dramatic change in temperature and prevents cracking.
Note: I cannot guarantee this will not break your dishes. Mine worked great but every Dollar Store sells different items, so I recommending testing one item before doing a large batch...just in case.

I am very happy with how these turned out. I will be making a mug for every grandparent and then the kids have asked if they can make a plate and mug for their milk and cookies for Santa. I really can't wait to see what they do for Santa!

What do you think, do you think you will be able to use this?

Any one else working on their Christmas craft list yet? If yes, what have you been making?

Have a great weekend,
Stephanie

Christmas in August - Alphabet Birth Announcement - How to make yourself

Well it is Christmas in August here at Full of Great Ideas. Last Saturday my husband and I were sitting out back, after the kids were put to bed, enjoying a bottle glass of wine with a little music and for some reason our iPod was determined to play Christmas music. It seemed like every other song in the random shuffle was a Christmas one; so it made me think that maybe it was a sign that I needed to start thinking about it.

I know you think I am insane but hear me out. Don't you find you have great intentions on saving a few dollars by making your Christmas gifts? Then December rolls around and you haven't done the majority of what you wanted to. I have always left my Christmas craft way too late and ended up buying gifts or staying up late of Christmas Eve spray painting something. So, I am making a deal with myself that it is not going to happen this year!

This gift is something I am making for a friend of mine who is pregnant and due right before Christmas. I don't know if she is having a boy or a girl or what color their nursery will be. So I made a few colors and layouts so that when her little one makes his or her entrance into this world, all I have to do is change the name and birth information, send it to Costco for printing and her gift is done.

Here are the designs I made and will show you below how to make them yourself. So for around $10 (less if you have a frame already) you too can make these amazing gifts! They take 10 minutes to design and cost under $2 to print.

These can be made using many different programs but I like to use Microsoft Publisher since I know its ins and outs.

Start by creating a new file. I made mine as an 8x10 image, but you can do any size you want.


Insert a text box and type the complete alphabet in capital letters. If you forget the capitals, you can change the case using the icon that looks like this 'Aa' on the Home tab. At the end of each of my rows, I used a hard return (is that term still used or was the lost when we stopped using typewriters?) so each row can be manipulated individually.

Select the font (I used Penshurst) and font size you like.

Now to get the font to go the entire way across the page, you need to highlight one line of the letters and select character spacing.

 Select 'More Spacing'

I change the 'Tracking' so there is more space between the letters but you can also play around with the 'Shrink and Stretch'. Remember you can always undo changes so don't be afraid to try different things.

Once you get all the rows but the last to the width of the text box, insert another text box on the bottom right side. This is where I insert the "is for Christian".

If you want no background, you can skip ahead a bit, but if you want there to be a pattern or texture behind your letters, select insert picture.

I inserted a free scrapbook paper I downloaded off the internet (just google 'free digital scrapbook paper' and you will find hundreds).

 If the text box moves down because of the scrapbook paper, select 'wrap text' then 'none'

 If the scrapbook paper is in front of the text, select 'Send Backwards' and then 'Send to back'

I then played around with the color of the font. I made all the letters white except the initial and the 'is for Christian'.

I added a button that I downloaded with some free scrapbook paper and I was done with this one.

To save the file as a JPEG, select 'Save As' and then 'JPEG'

Now this is important! Be sure to change the resolution to 'High Quality'. This will allow you to get a nice crisp 8x10 photo printed.

Once I finished with my first file, I easily changed it to make a few different looks. I added another text box to the bottom with weight, date and time.

Then I thought I would do a couple with the name on the side of the page. To turn a text box on its side, use the green circle on the top of the box and drag it around. The image below is with Broadway font.

To add a line below the name, select 'Insert' and 'shape'

This is how you change the color and width of the line

With these templates you can quickly change the look by removing or changing the background, changing the font style and color, etc.

The possibilities are really endless. I think my favorite design is this one.

Here are the other ones I have done so far. Which do you like the best?

 

F-ing Retirement Gift (Part 2) - Monogrammed Marble Tiles

As I mentioned in my previous post, a friend of mine decided to take an early retirement. I struggled with a personal gift to make and came up with monogrammed wine glasses and coasters. See here for the wine glasses.

The coasters I made were so extremely simple, that they have been added to my Christmas to do list. I know it is only August, but I have started my Christmas craft gifts already. I will be posting a few of them very soon so all of you can benefit.

I purchases these amazingly beautiful, white Carrera marble 4x4 tiles at Habitat for Humanity for only $0.40 each months ago to make the runners bib coasters for my husband. I scooped up every single one that was not chipped and almost ran out the door screaming "start the car".

For my girl friend, I decided to do something a little different then a standard set of 4 coasters with 'F's (her last name initial) on them. Instead I made one for each of the members of her family. So when they all are having a glass of wine with 'F's etched on them, they can use their individual coaster with their initial on it so they can keep track of their glasses.

I always wash the tiles before I do anything with them because when you first get them they are almost chalky. So after a good washing and letting the completely dry, I added vinyl cut with my Cricut. I tested out a few different fonts, sizes and ended up liking how these lower case letters looked. The font is a free one called Bell MT and each letter (except the 'r') was approximately 1.5 inches wide and high.

I then added four no slip stoppers (you can get these at the dollar store) to the back of each of the coasters. I have used the felt pads on the back before and I found out the hard way they slide really easily off a table. So these no slip ones are much better.

This next step is completely optional. I sealed the fronts of the tiles with a mat spray finish. I did this so that the tiles would not stain, but if you don't seal them, the tiles nicely absorb liquid when the glasses sweat. So it is completely up to you.

 

 Aren't they cute! So a set of 4 costs under $3.00 ($1.60 for the coaster, $1 for the no slip pads, few cents for vinyl) and a set of 6 isn't much more!

Are you ready for Christmas ideas yet? I will be sharing some very soon so don't be shocked.

Have a great day,
Stephanie

F-ing Retirement Gift - Monogrammed Wine Glasses

Oh, my title just makes me laugh. You will see where it comes from as the post goes on. Nothing bad I promise.

A couple of months ago one of my biggest supporters for my blog decided to take a very early retirement. Kim is one of the nicest and funniest people you could ever know. Other than parents, I have not have not known anyone else to retire, so when it came to gift ideas I was stumped. As I always say, I knew I wanted her gift to be personal and something she could use but I had already made her the name art and the monogrammed tile, so I had to come up with something completely new.

After heading over to the amazingly inspiring Pottery Barn site, I decided on making monogrammed stemless wine glasses and marble tile coasters (I will share this simple gift idea tomorrow).

Source Pottery Barn

The Pottery Barn glasses are over $50 for 6, and I created mine for under $20 for 8. I purchased eight reasonably priced stemless wine glasses from a local home store so they can be for everyday use and no one has to worry about them breaking.

I tested out a few different initials on a old pickle jar just to ensure I had the right sizing and to see which design I liked the best. I knew I was saving all those jars for a reason. Hopefully now my husband can't say anything about the stash again. Are you the same... you look at jars and think "Oh I know there is something I can do with that in the future" and it hurts you to throw them in the recycling bin?

So here are the two 'F' designs I tried. Both fonts are Brock Script but one has a circle around it:

I liked them both, but I found the large circle to be a little heavy for wine glasses. I also find that with the etching cream, large surfaces don't seem to be consistently etched. It is hard to explain, but it looks like some of the areas are more etched. So I went with the scrolly F.  Do you see where the F-ing wine glass title came from.

I used vinyl cut with my Cricut to create the template to etch. If you don't have a machine to cut vinyl, you can do this with stickers or hand cut contact paper. I have in the past printed text and traced it with an exacto knife over contact paper to make my own.

If you can't get the vinyl to lay completely flat, use the technique described on my post for the NFL Beer Steins here.

I find it easiest to lay all the glasses out on a dish towel. This prevents the glasses from rolling around and the etching cream from running down.

Using a sponge brush, I apply the etching cream. I use a lot of etching cream! I really believe for this more is better. Be very, very careful not to get any one the outside of the stencil because it will start to etch immediately.

I leave the etching cream on for 20-25 minutes. I honestly do not know how long it is suppose to stay on because here in Canada, the back of the bottle with the instructions is covered by a million warning messages in two languages. It is funny.

For all of you who are cheap frugal like me, this is important to read: As recommended by a fellow blogger, I carefully remove the etching cream with my sponge brush and scrape it right back into the etching cream bottle! Yes, you heard that right...I reuse the etching cream!!!! I have been reusing this cream for months and have not seen a difference in the end result.

I then rinse the etching cream under water and remove the vinyl.

Once they were all washed and dried off, this is what they looked like:

Cute huh! I think this is going to be my 'go to gift' for Christmas this year!

What do you think? Would you like this as a gift?

Has anyone else made etched gifts?

Stephanie