#DIY St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Mug #IrishAmericanHeritageMonth

I have come to the conclusion that I am the absolute worst when it comes to working on crafts. I have so many things going on with writing, working on my web business, the blogging and the freelancing that when I sit down to relax for a few hours, I don’t think about working on my crafts. I am hoping things will slow down a little bit and I can get back into the swing of things because kiddo is desperately waiting for me to finish the Ken’s bedroom I am working on in plastic canvas.

I forgot just how time consuming plastic canvas is. This set is a bed, dresser and chair. Then I have to make the rug, pillow and blanket. I had it all planned out. I purchased the materials ummmm…well not this last Christmas but the Christmas before that.

Like I said, I am the WORST when it comes to crafts. *sigh* I also received a sewing machine that same Christmas to replace my old, broken one. Well, it was broken, but the detachable arm was missing and a replacement wasn’t to be found. So, hubs bought me a new machine on a Black Friday deal. So, that machine sat in the box for months and months. Until he finally moved out of the office and into his own.

It was also that Christmas that we made some mugs for the grandparents. We had one mug left and I hung on to it knowing at some point I would make a Sharpie mug with it. This was my 59 cent Goodwill special.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and it’s Irish American History Month. I celebrate all month long with fun Irish recipes and crafts. March 2 I decided to make this mug and on March 9 I posted some of my progress on Instagram. 

Then I sat it down.

Big mistake.

Over the weekend I realized I had not gotten far with it.

I wanted to create this great work of pointillism. The idea came from this post on Pinterest. I used to do a lot of that in art all through jr. high and high school. I had some really great pieces that went to contests and museums. So, I thought it would be a great idea.

Derp.

Giving my time management issues and track record with crafts lately that was a bad idea.

Here is what I did and it was super easy.

1. First, make sure your mug is clean. Do not preheat your oven.

2. Then, start doodling. You can use regular permanent markers or paint pens. I don’t own any Sharpie oil paint pens so I used regular fine tip Sharpie markers.

——-> for the shamrock variety like this one, I found a template online (Google shamrock printable then find one you like.)  

I cut it out. Tape it on to the mug and then made a dotted line around the shamrock. Once the outline was done I carefully pulled off the shamrock as to not smudge the marker. Once removed, I filled in a few open spots and then started dotting. The dotting of a piece of art is called pointillism. 

Fun fact: The most famous pointillism artist is George Seurat and his painting “A Sunday Afternoon.”

3. When you are done with your design put your mug inside the oven and turn it on to 425. Set your timer for 35 minutes.

Things might smell weird. It’s ok. Just keep an eye on the mug to make sure it doesn’t start to crack. There are some thinner porcelain and ceramic mugs that don’t hold up to super high heat. I have never had a mug crack, but I know other muggers who have had cracking issues.

4. Once your timer goes off, turn off the oven but do not take the mug out.

5. Allow the mug to cool off with your oven to avoid cracking. I left mine in there overnight.

These are NOT dishwasher safe. Hand wash only. We have a lot of store bought ones with glitter and graphics on them that are not dishwasher safe so one more isn’t going to be a big deal.

As I sat here making my little dots hoping to get my creative juices flowing, I realized that what little I had done actually looked pretty good.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Do you have a craft you started recently and its just hanging out waiting to be completed?

Looking for more crafts? Check out these 10+ St. Patrick’s Day craft ideas.