Paint marker mugs

Hey Guys!

If you are stuck for ideas for last-minute Christmas gifts, I have a winner right here. Everybody uses mugs, and you can easily customise this present to the likes of whoever the recipient is. E.g. Their favourite movies, TVs programs, bands, jokes etc.

You will need:

- Paint markers. Don't use sharpies!!! I tried that, but it all washed off after once in the dishwasher :( . Mine are from Amazon, and they come with 12 colours. They seem good.

- A mug. It doesn't really matter what sort of quality. I just got mine for £2

Steps:

1) Get your equipment ready. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit for all our American readers). With the pens, you may have to shake them a bit, then press the nib up and down a few times before ink starts to come out.

2) Start drawing your designs. I would suggest relatively simple ones, as the nibs are quite thick, about the same as that of a felt tip pen.

3) Place your mug in the oven for 30 mins. When finished, wait a while for it to cool down before you take it out. Then, you can start using your new mug.

By Annie

PS: Here is a picture of some shaved alpacas. I just thought you might like to see that.

Super Easy Stickers!

Hi guys, it's Issy here. Sorry I haven't been on the blog for a while - things have been a bit busy! But on this peaceful Sunday afternoon in November, I have decided to show you how to make stickers which everyone will love. While stickers in shops are lovely, sometimes it's nice to have homemade ones - and trust me, these are VERY easy.

You will need:

-some plain white sticky labels that you get on rolls/sheets

-pens/pencils (for outlines)

-colours: pencil/watercolour/pen/crayon etc.

-scissors

That's everything! You probably already have all of these in your homes, but if you don't, they are all in abundance in many shops.

Step 1:

Keeping the label on its roll/sheet, draw different things (literally anything) onto it - for this, I like to use a thin black pen, and I make my sketches quite simple, almost like cartoons. Fit as many as you can on the label (your drawings can be any size), but make sure they're not touching, as you want them to end up as separate stickers.

Step 2:

Add some colour to them! Fill in that star, add some green to your tree - make them come to life! There is no wrong way to do this, of course, and you don't have to use any colour if you don't want to; you could have some lovely black and white ones instead.

Step 3:

Simply cut around your drawings, still keeping the label on its roll/sheet. I like to give my stickers smooth, rounded edges, but you can cut yours however you like.

Step 4:

Now that your stickers are all separated, start sticking! Just peel off the back and paste them wherever you want. I'm sure others would really appreciate them if you slipped them into envelopes along with letters, for them to stick down. Who wouldn't like homemade stickers?

I think these stickers are great, because they're so simple to make, they look great, and you can get loads of stickers out of just one label!

If you enjoyed reading this article/making your stickers, we would really love it if you shared this page's link with your friends and family. 

Thanks for reading!

Issy