Draw-Your-Own Family Portrait Mug

Father’s Day is quickly approaching! Since I’ve always been better at sweet, handmade, from-the-heart gifts than store-bought ones, this year I helped my little lady make a simple family portrait mug to give her papa. Making one of these really couldn’t be easier!

You Will Need:

• rubbing alcohol
• cotton pad
• a plain white ceramic mug
• porcelain or oil-based paint pens—available at craft or art supply stores (regular permanent markers will work, but won’t stand the test of time)

How To Make It:

1. Clean the outside of your mug with some rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad. This will ensure that the surface is free from any residue that may not allow your paint pen to adhere properly.

2. Next, the fun part—drawing the family portrait!

While drawing on a curved surface can be a little tricky, we found that if I held the mug steady on its side while my little one did the drawing, it was actually very manageable.

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The other trick when working with paint pens is to remind your little one to start at the top of each person and work down, so as not to smudge the paint while it’s still wet.

We did one family member at a time, taking a short break in between, which worked very well.

3. To finish off our family portrait mug, my little one signed her name on the bottom of the mug and I added the year.

4. With the family portrait complete, allow your mug to dry on the counter for 48 hours. After that, place the mug in a cold oven and set it to 300°F.

Bake for 45 minutes and then turn off the heat, leaving the mug inside the oven to cool. You may notice that some of the colours have darkened throughout the baking process, but that’s normal. Now fill the mug with some coffee or tea and goodies and wrap it for gifting! 

As a final note, I would recommend washing your family portrait mug by hand. 

Happy gifting!