Painted Dollar Store Mugs

I’m not sure if I mentioned it here before but I became a contributor to one of my favorite blogs, Saved By Love Creations.

Once a month I’ll be creating a fun l’il project and posting it on SBLC. (Today I’m sharing my Painted Retro Shoes!)

But before you click over there to see the shoes – and they are pretty cute, if-I-do-say-so-myself – I wanted to show you how to paint some mugs.

While these had a Valentine’s theme, they’d actually be pretty cute for any time of year, and they make great gifts too!

How To Paint Dollar Store Mugs

I picked these guys up at the dollar store. You might not be able to find the exact style but any white mug will work for this project.

Once you’ve cleaned the mugs with soapy water and they’ve dried, take a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol and go over the areas that’ll be painted. Let air dry.

The alcohol removes and traces of oil left by your fingers that would prevent the paint from adhering.

There are now a few different companies that make “multi-surface” paint. I happen to love Martha Stewart’s for a few reasons:

1) there are different sheens in the same color way, like the Pearl finish I used on these mugs, and

2) she has tips that screw on to the bottles allowing you to use the paint as a writer or for detailing. You’ll see more about that one below.

Since these mugs already had little oval indentions, I used those as a base for my “pattern”. I used two coats of Satin finish, allowing each one to dry thoroughly.

Next, I applied two coats of the Pearl finish in the same color as the basecoat. You could easily leave the Satin as it but the Pearl adds an extra shimmer which is really pretty.

Since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, I painted a couple of hearts with the Satin paint – two coats – and followed up with Pearl in the same color.

Now, if you’re a little uneasy about painting the heart freehand, I have a little “secret” that might help. Of course, if you have a stencil, you could always use that too but I like the relaxed look of the hearts not so matchy-matchy.

Okay, if you’re like me, sometimes it’s hard to ‘stay within the lines’, right?

Here’s a super easy way to “erase” a paint boo-boo:

Get a clean, slightly damp paintbrush and carefully stroke it once across the paint needing to be removed. Then rinse, blot excess water on paper towel, and repeat as needed.

This little ‘eraser’ saves loads of time and aggravation, believe me.

Now that you have some blocks of color and a couple hearts painted, you can add some detailing. Don’t panic! This is easy-peasy stuff.

As I mentioned above, Martha’s craft line includes a set of three different-sized tips that screw right on to the paint bottle. Love that.

If you’re not using Martha’s paint, you can get little squeeze bottles but since you only need a smidgen of paint, it’s not really worth the time and trouble.

Using the Pearl paint, I outlined the color blocks and then squeezed a few dots here and there. No big deal.

You could also use the end of your paintbrush to “dip-dot” too. Dip dots are so much fun and you can even make flowers with them!

You’ll want to “cure” the paint so the mugs will be washable – either by hand or top rack in the dishwasher.

You can either let them air dry for 21 days or if you’re impatient like me, use the oven. Set the mugs on a rack in a cool oven, turn it on to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the oven off; let the mugs cool completely in the oven. Painted glass should heat up and cool down in the oven. Set aside for 72 hours.

Aren’t these fun? If you paint two, you’ll either have a set or one to give away and one to keep!

And by all means, feel free to create your own design too! Painting glass and ceramic is great because if you don’t like the way something looks, you can just wipe it off with a damp towel and start over (as long as it hasn’t air cured for 21 days).

Make sure you drop by Saved By Love Creations, ok? If you’ve been wanting a Spring painting project, this one is perfect and you can knock it out in an afternoon!

Colleen

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