The Easiest Ways to Make a Sharpie Mug DIY!

Hi Friends! I am continuing on with my DIY mugs and I have one last one for you. I am in love with the Sharpie painting pens and they work perfectly for mugs that can be put in the dishwasher! All of the other mugs made with vinyl or water slide paper need to be hand washed which for us is no problem, but I know a lot of people prefer dishwasher safe mugs. So, I have two ways to show you how to make personalized sharpie mug DIY gifts depending on whether you have a cutting machine or not.

Option #1: Materials Needed for Sharpie Mug DIY without a Cutting Machine

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Mugs – I get mine at the Dollar Tree
Sharpie painting markers – found here These are not regular Sharpies! These are oil based paint markers!
Alphabet stickers – from any craft store

First thing you’ll want to do is wipe off the mug with rubbing alcohol. Then just apply the stickers where you want them.

This would be a fun thing for your kiddos to do! Just take the Sharpie painting markers and scribble all over the front of the mug with different colors. Don’t rub too hard because you might rip the stickers up! Make sure you get all the space around the stickers.

Then just remove the stickers. I use a weeding tool but you could also use a utility knife.

That’s all there is to it! Scroll down to read directions on how to bake it! If you want to add a printed decal on the other side, check out my tutorial here on how to add a decal without a cutting machine!

Option #2: How to Make a Sharpie Mug with a Cricut Explore

For this sharpie mug DIY you will need to cut out a vinyl stencil. I use my favorite tool, my Cricut Explore, to easily make stencils. (You can check out my ultimate guide of Cricut ideas by clicking here!) Cutting out names or wording that doesn’t overlap will give you the best result. You can download my Free teacher appreciation cut files over on this post.

First thing you’ll want to do is wipe off the mug with rubbing alcohol.

Once you’ve cut out your vinyl stencil, weed out the letters, apply transfer tape to it, stick it on your mug, and pull off transfer tape.

Then simply take your Sharpie painting marker and color it in.

It dries pretty quickly so I just peel off the vinyl when I’m done but be careful not to get the sharpie on another part of the mug!

I remove the rest of the vinyl with my weeding tool but you could also use a utility knife or tweezers. They can be a bit tricky so try to pull them straight off.

All done! So easy and fun to make a sharpie mug DIY, right? Now all you need to do is bake them to seal the paint.

Let the mugs dry for 72 hours. Then put them in a cold oven. Turn on the oven to 300F and leave mugs in oven for 30-40 minutes once it reaches 300F. Turn off oven after the allotted time and let them cool in the oven. Then they are ready to give as gifts!