DIY Pride and Prejudice Mug {Delightfully Creative}

A couple of weeks ago, I showcased the Nerd Girl Gift Stash I made for my sister for her birthday. I incorporated her favorite nerdy things, so I of course had to include Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, as we both love this book.

We also love tea and tea is so Jane Austen, so I made her this tea cup looking mug, stuffed with Twining tea, of course!

OK, I obviously didn't became a sculptor and make the mug on a wheel in my living room, but I did decorate the cup (which I bought at Target) using a Deco Art Glass Paint Marker, which is good on glass and glazed ceramics. If you;re not familiar with these, they are a great way to make a personalized mug-especially if you are artistic! All you do is draw and then bake the mug and it is washable-even in the dish washer.

I've seen this idea on Pinterest and decided to try it. I am not artist and my handwriting stinks, so I wasn't so sure about this gift, but after cleaning and re-writing several times, I decided my crooked handwriting made it from ME and endearing. I felt the phrase by itself looked weird, so I added the abstract little teabag.

If you are Obsessed familiar with Pride and Prejudice, then you will recognize the phrase "a most beloved sister" was what Lizzie called her sister and best friend, Jane, when she rejected Mr. Darcy.

"I might as well inquire," replied she, "why with so evident a desire of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? But I have other provocations. You know I have. Had not my feelings decided against you— had they been indifferent, or had they even been favourable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?”

 My sister is indeed my beloved sister.

Some Tips for Decorating Ceramic Mugs:

•  Clean mug with glass cleaner wipe first and keep one on hand to erase mistakes.
• Draw your design on the mug in pencil first and trace over it.
• Follow the directions on the pen precisely!
• Use a ceramic or glass marker/pen. Some pins suggest using Sharpies, but permanent marker does not work as well on ceramic. I tried this before at a group craft thing and everyone's designs washed off, even after baking.
• The colors on the Deco Art pen cap is not the actual shade-I was sad about this, as I chose two colors, but only ended up using one because the other was hideous. I have not tried another brand, so can't speak to those.

I added a little surprise reminder of who loves her much when she finishes her tea. :-)

Delightfully Creating,

 Linking To:

MONDAYS

Craftomaniac Monday with Craftomaniac

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Crafty Soiree with Yesterday on Tuesday and Katie's Nesting Spot
The 36th Avenue Party Time with The 36th Avenue 

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For the Kids Fridays with Sun Scholars 
Anything Goes Party with Bacon Time with Hungry Hungry Hypo
Weekend Wrap Up with Tatertots and Jello
 
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Overflowing with Creativity with It's Overflowing 

 Think Pink Sunday with Flamingo Toes
That DIY Party with DIY Show Off
 Our Sunday Best with Momnivore's Dilemma and  A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

Book Cover Coasters {Delightfully Creative}

Do you have a book lover in your life? Here is a fun and easy handmade gift idea. I recently made these book cover coasters for my bibliophile sister as a part of her her Nerd Girl Gift Stash I gave her for her birthday.

This craft is a little twist on the ever-popular scrapbook paper coasters and was the idea that started the whole Nerd Girl gift explosion for my sister. 

These are super easy to make and super great for the inexpensive price it takes to make them (dear Sister, ignore this! :-)) All you need is:

• 4" x 4" Ceramic Tiles: You can find these at home improvement stores, like Lowe's. They are only 16 cents per tile!
• Mod Podge (I prefer the matte finish for this project)
• Paint Brush (for applying Mod Podge)
• Computer, Printer, and regular printing paper
• Paper Trimmer or Scissors
• Foam Sheets (found at any craft store near felt)
• Glue (preferably hot glue)

Step 1: Create Images

Find images of your bibliophile's favorite book covers online and save them to your computer. Printing them is the simplest part. You can use any photo program to size them-I used Microsoft Publisher. I sized them to slightly smaller than 4" by 4" so the white tile would outline the image. 

I experimented with shapes-trying the normal rectangular book and also making them into a square. I actually liked the square better. It slightly distorts the image, but not enough to make it look bad.

Print the book cover images and let the ink dry (5 minutes to be safe). You can use regular computer paper for this. Cut out each book cover-I used a paper trimmer because I can't cut straight lines to save my life.

Step 2: Mod Podge It!

There is definitely a technique to using Mod Podge-if you use too much, the paper will bubble up, so don't be afraid to use sparingly! Trust me, a very small amount of Mod Podge firmly glues-that is one of the may reasons it is so fantastic.

Brush a very thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of the image. I usually dip the brush once and spread it as thinly as possible. Press the image down on the smooth side of the tile. To prevent bubbling, smooth the paper down-I use a pencil, the end of the paint brush, or a popsicle stick for this part. Let it dry according to the directions on the Mod Podge bottle-it's important that you follow the drying time! No short cuts!

Step 3: Seal and Coat

Finally, you will seal and coat the coasters with Mod Podge by brushing very thin coats on top of the entire surface of the coaster. Again, follow the drying time in between coats. I usually do about 4 to 5 top coats for this project. 

If you're using the matte finish, be be sure to brush on the Mod Podge in the same direction, using one stroke per line or else your finish will look wonky.

Step 4: Apply Foam

You will want to put something on the back of the tiles to protect table surfaces from scratching. Some use felt for this. I prefer foam-it is thicker and it prevents the coaster from slipping. You can find sheets of foam near the sheets of felt in a craft store and it is inexpensive. A 12"x18" sheet costs about $1.25.

Cut the foam to size-again, I cut a little smaller than 4"x4" because of the way the tiles juts out in the back-it's easier to glue on if it is smaller. Glue the foam to the back of the tile, preferably with hot glue.

As you can see, mine are not always perfectly straight, but it will be out of site!

You can do this with scrapbook paper, maps, movie posters, photos-the possibilities are endless!

Delightfully Creating,

Linking To:

 MONDAYS

Craftomaniac Monday with Craftomaniac

Made By You Monday with Skip to My Lou Monday 
Funday with

C.R.A.F.T. // Lines Across // Uncommon Designs // That's What Che Said // Creatively Living

TUESDAYS

Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios

Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog  
The Scoop with
Lolly Jane // Cedar Hill Ranch // Crafty Texas Girls // The Farmhouse Porch  
The Inspiration Exchange with  
Clean and Scentsible // City Farmhouse // Ella Claire // Yellow Bliss Road 

WEDNESDAYS

Look What I made with Creations by Kara
Show and Share with Southern Lovely  
What We Wore, Read, and Made with Rae Gun Ramblings

THURSDAYS

Crafty Soiree with Yesterday on Tuesday and Katie's Nesting Spot
The 36th Avenue Party Time with The 36th Avenue 

FRIDAYS
Anything Goes Party with Bacon Time with Hungry Hungry Hypo
Weekend Wrap Up with Tatertots and Jello
 
SATURDAYS/SUNDAYS
Overflowing with Creativity with It's Overflowing 

 Think Pink Sunday with Flamingo Toes
That DIY Party with DIY Show Off
 Our Sunday Best with Momnivore's Dilemma and  A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

Gift Stash For My Book-Loving Sister and Doctor Who Emergency Kit {Delightfully Creative}

My sister is a Bibliophile and Book-a-holic. She takes pride in being a nerd, so for her birthday I made the Ultimate Nerd Girl Gift Stash (but book-heavy) AKA Best-Gift-Ever (Seriously, this what I titled it on my gift plan list). She agreed-I will never be able to top this for her.

In the coming weeks, I will write more detailed posts about individual items, but here is the stash in all it's glory!

The stash included a book tote, book cover coasters, earrings from one of her favorite books, book art magnets, Doctor Who emergency kit, Harry Potter Cookbook, Hair Elastics, Nerd Girl Problem Magnets, A Teacup (quote from Pride and Prejudice), Pride and Prejudice necklace, and Sherlock Notebook. I also stuck in some Star Wars sticky notes I found in the Target Dollar Spot, but they are not pictured.

I was so excited to give this to her and I am ecstatic that she loved it so much!

I've posted before how I made elastic hair bands. So, I made some for her and made them bookish. :-) I found some card stock in my stash that looked like a book. My saying is quite appropriate for this week as she will be participating in a 48 hour reading thing-I doubt she will bother with her hair, so they should be put to good use. 

  Last week, I posted about the fabric covered mini emergency kits I made. My sister is a hardcore Whovian, so I made her a Doctor Who-themed one!

 I bought this awesome Tardis fabric from Spacefem on Etsy.

I don't even watch Doctor Who; I just have inherited knowledge and I had to do my research for the inside:

I came up with this saying from an episode where the 10th Doctor (my sister's favorite) says,

"You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room's the greatest arsenal we could have - arm yourselves!"

I got the free Doctor Who font from here.

More details to come!

Delightfully Creating,

 Linking To:

MONDAYS

Craftomaniac Monday with Craftomaniac

Made By You Monday with Skip to My Lou Monday Funday with

C.R.A.F.T. // Lines Across // Uncommon Designs // That's What Che Said // Creatively Living

TUESDAYS

Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog  
The Scoop with Lolly Jane // Cedar Hill Ranch // Crafty Texas Girls // The Farmhouse Porch The Inspiration Exchange with Clean and Scentsible // City Farmhouse // Ella Claire // Yellow Bliss Road 

WEDNESDAYS

Look What I made with Creations by Kara  
Show and Share with Southern Lovely  
What We Wore, Read, and Made with Rae Gun Ramblings

THURSDAYS

Crafty Soiree with Yesterday on Tuesday and Katie's Nesting Spot  
The 36th Avenue Party Time with The 36th Avenue 

FRIDAYS

Anything Goes Party with Bacon Time with Hungry Hungry Hypo
Weekend Wrap Up with Tatertots and Jello

SATURDAYS/SUNDAYS
Overflowing with Creativity with It's Overflowing 

 Think Pink Sunday with Flamingo Toes  
That DIY Party with DIY Show Off
Our Sunday Best with Momnivore's Dilemma and  A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

I haven't dissappeared!

I didn't mean to take a vacation from blogging. :-) But, with travel preparations and trying to clean my house, I haven't had time! Hopefully I can post in the next couple of days.

OH MY! I WON A SILHOUETTE!

Just wanted to share my excitement with you! After years of entering a myriad of giveaways, I won a Silhouette Portrait from Simply Kierste! 

I am over the moon excited and I am so glad I won from Kierste because I have been following her blog for a long time, back when it was Brown Paper Packages.

So, you will be seeing some projects in the future done on my brand new Silhouette!

What Cupcake and I Are Reading {Children's Books}

It's been a while since I've shared what Cupcake (15 months) and I are reading. She had moved to a cute stage where she would point at pictures on the pages, but as of late, she's moved into mischievous toddler mode and all she wants to do is fold the book in half or rip the pages and when I won't let her, she whines. *sigh* I keep trying, though.

Here are some books I am attempting to keep in nice condition. :-)

The Mouse and Mrs. Proudfoot by Albert Rusling

 This was mine from childhood-and I am pretty sure it is out of print and hard to find. I loved this as a child and love reading it to Cupcake. It's a cute counting story about a woman determined to chase a mouse out of her house followed by a myriad of other nuisances, only to discover she was happy with the mouse. 

Cecily G and The Nine Monkeys by H.A. Ray

First published in 1939, this is H.A. first book featuring the famous Curious George. Cecily the Giraffe is sad because all her friends were taken to the zoo and she has no one to play with. Mama Pamplemoose and her 8 little monkeys need a new place to live because someone tore down their trees. When they meet, it's a perfect match! The little monkeys fit perfectly together in one giraffe bed and Cecily has never had so much fun being a giraffe playground for monkeys.

Dr. De Soto by William Steig

 Doctor De Soto and his wife break their rule to never treat animals who are are danger to mice when they have compassion for a fox with a toothache. However, when the fox gets a taste of Doctor De Soto working in his mouth, his plans became sinister. One step ahead of him, the doctor and his wife make their own plans to outfox the fox.

Caps For Sale

This is a cute story about a peddler who takes a nap and discovers his caps have been stolen by some mischievous little creatures.

Pocketful Of Posies: A Treasury Of Nursery Rhymes by Salley Mavor

  This was the very first book Cupcake received from Auntie. I LOVE this book-it's a work of art. It is a book of nursery rhymes, which every kid needs, but what makes this book amazing and special is Salley Mavoy's illustrations. Each is a scene handmade by here from fabric and found materials. How could I not love it?!

Delightful Reading,

Mini Emergency Kits From Fabric Covered Mint Tins {Delightfully Creative}

Here's a fun little gift idea I recently made for the girls I disciple. Obviously, it wasn't my idea-there are tons of awesome ideas out there for how to use mint tins. I first saw some fabric-covered tins on Green Bee and thought they were adorable, so I used that idea and added my own little touch. I really love coordinating fabrics. 

They are really simple to make. All you need is:

• Mint tin-you can recycle an Altoid tin or buy blank ones in the same size. I bought mine from Tin Supply
• Fabric Scraps
• Embellishments
• Fabric Glue
• Felt (for the inside)

First, cut a piece of fabric a little larger than the top of the tin. Glue it on with fabric glue-use a very thin layer of glue or else you will have a mess and it will soak through the fabric. 

When the fabric is on, smooth it out, so there are no bubbles. Trim the fabric to the size of the tin. Repeat for the bottom of tin.

If you want to use two fabrics like I did, just start each fabric in the middle of the tin or wherever you want to split to be-I don't like it to be directly in the middle, so I made one pattern cover more area than the other. 

I recommend brushing a very little amount of fabric glue on the edges of the fabric to keep it from fraying. 

Let the glue dry before you add embellishments. I used ribbon to cover the line between the two fabric and to cover the sides. You can use thin strips of fabric, but ribbon is much easier!

 

I lined the inside with felt. For the bottom, you will want to cut a piece of felt to the exact size of the bottom-you can do this by tracing the outside of the bottom of the tin.

However, for the top, you will need to cut the felt slightly smaller-if you cut it to the exact size, it will keep the tin from staying closed...trust me, I learned this the hard way. :-)

I used felt with sticky stuff on one side, so that I could attach fabric to the sticky side and then glue the felt part down. Felt is good as a little pin cushion, which is why I used it.

When everything was dry, I filled it with little emergency goodies.

Shout wipes, a band-aid, chap stick, a little sewing kit, a tooth floss stick, a mini tube of super glue (I found these on sale at Staples for super cheap!), mini Emory board, mini mechanical pencil (found at The Dollar Tree!-5 for $1) some paper, rubber band, safety pins, Aleve, and a mini disposable tooth brush.

 I made one for myself too. :-)

Delightfully Creating,

 Linking To:

MONDAYS

Craftomaniac Monday with Craftomaniac

Made By You Monday with Skip to My Lou  
Monday Funday with

C.R.A.F.T. // Lines Across // Uncommon Designs // That's What Che Said // Creatively Living

TUESDAYS

Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios

Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog  
The Scoop with Lolly Jane // Cedar Hill Ranch // Crafty Texas Girls // The Farmhouse Porch 
Brag About it with VMG206

WEDNESDAYS

Look What I made with Creations by Kara
  The Inspiration Exchange with Clean & Scentsible  
Show and Share with Southern Lovely  
What We Wore, Read, and Made with Rae Gun Ramblings

THURSDAYS

Crafty Soiree with Yesterday on Tuesday and Katie's Nesting Spot  
The 36th Avenue Party Time with The 36th Avenue 

FRIDAYS

Anything Goes Party with Bacon Time with Hungry Hungry Hypo
Weekend Wrap Up with Tatertots and Jello
 
SATURDAYS/SUNDAYS
Overflowing with Creativity with It's Overflowing 

 Think Pink Sunday with Flamingo Toes  
Your Great Idea with Or So She Says  
That DIY Party with DIY Show Off