DIY Personalized Mugs: Kids Art & Dot Monograms

Instructions

STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR MUG DESIGN

First you need a freehand mug design! You can make a monogram, shapes like butterflies, or just draw it completely freehand. You can even trace an older drawing you may have -- I used one of my favorite drawings made by my daughter when she was little and traced it onto my pre-cut template. I really love how they all turned out!

To make this super simple for you, I've created designs to help you get started and all you need to do is download them from my free resource library. Look for design #294 and click on it to download to your computer.

Here's what each of the designs looks like in Cricut Design Space. These are the Dot Shapes (they are stacked on top of each other, so you'll want to ungroup and separate to find the one you want to make).

Here's the dot monogram SVG cut files (again, they are stacked on top of each other):

And here is the artwork template:

For this tutorial I'm going to show you how to make a butterfly from the first set, a monogram "M" from the second set, and a drawing on the artwork template from the third set.

STEP 2: UPLOAD YOUR DESIGN TO CRICUT DESIGN SPACE

Let's start by uploading your design — we'll begin with the dot monogram designs.

NOTE: This step is the same for all three designs.

First, open Cricut Design Space and upload the SVG file. For the Monogram Mug I have included all 26 letters of the alphabet, so choose whichever letter you want to use. If you're not sure how to upload a SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video training series I made for you.

You will notice there are TWO sizes of mug designs in all of my files, the smaller one on top is for the 12 oz. mug, while the larger one on the bottom is for the 15 oz. mug. Both also include 3 extra cutouts, stacked on the right, that will be used to wrap and protect your mug in the Cricut Mug Press.

The first thing you want to do is select "Ungroup" on the right at the top of the Layers panel.

Then find the monogram you want (remember, 12 oz designs are in the top half and 15 oz designs are in the bottom half) and hide or delete everything else. Here I've chosen the 12 oz "M" design plus the three wrap layers (which you'll want to keep for any letter you choose):

Now click "Make It."

On the next screen on the far left you will see two mats. Be sure to "Mirror" the top mat. Just click on the toggle button where it says "Mirror" on the left and you will see it turn to green.

Now click "Continue."

NOTE: There is no need to Mirror the artwork template design, as it is symmetrical. All other designs intended for Infusible Ink mugs should be mirrored, however.

Now it's time to choose your materials for your mug templates. To do this, click "Browse All Materials," then type "Laser" in the search window, and then click on "Laser Copy Paper." Then click "Done."

On the next screen I always choose "More" under pressure. Now it's time to cut.

STEP 3: CUT YOUR DESIGN

First, place one sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" laser copy paper onto a Blue LightGrip Cutting Mat in Landscape Orientation, so wider than it is taller, just like this.

Now load your mat into your machine by pressing the flashing arrow button. Then press the flashing Cricut button.

When the cut is done, unload your mat, flip it over and slowly allow your paper to pull away from the mat. You can help it along, but be careful so it doesn't rip.

All three designs include three extra cutouts that will be used to wrap your design and mug to protect it in the mug press. These are important to protecting the Cricut Mug Press from getting ink on the heat plates.

Now load your second blue mat with the laser paper on it just like you did the first time and make the cut. Then unload your mat, flip it over and slowly peel it off the mat.

STEP 4 : CREATE YOUR MUG MASTERPIECE

Now this is the fun part! It's time to tap into your creativity and make your mug masterpiece. First, set the three extra cutouts to the side and grab an extra sheet of laser paper to protect your work surface.

MONOGRAM & BUTTERFLIES MUG TECHNIQUE

For the dot monogram mug, pick three to four Cricut Infusible Ink Markers. I'm using red, orange, yellow and green, but you can use whatever colors you like. For the mug featuring the butterflies, I used two colors: Blue and Yellow, again you can use your favorite color combo.

Now place your design "Mirror side up" (so it should appear backwards) on your sheet of extra paper.

Now grab your first Cricut Infusible Ink Marker and slowly start making dots around the perimeter of the design cutout. My technique is to make more dots around the immediate periphery and less as I moved away from the cutout, to be sure the design was very clear. Just straight up and down dotting motion so the dot was rounded.

Here's what the dot design should look like when you are done. Of course it won't be exactly like mine, but that's the beauty of this technique, it's an original work of art... YOUR art!

TRACED ARTWORK DESIGN

You will also have four sheets of cutouts for this design. You will notice one is different and has straight edges, that's the one you will draw on.

Now I don't know about you, but seeing my little one's artwork just brings a big smile to my face... especially now that my daughter is not so little anymore. So that's why I love this design so much.

This is really easy! Just grab your phone and snap a picture of your child's artwork. Now click "edit" on your phone and mirror the image...which is also the same thing as flipping it vertically. This is what it looks like:

This way you can use the Cricut Infusible Ink Markers to trace the drawing backwards so you can get it onto your mug and it will look just the way it's supposed to.

To trace it, I made sure to turn the brightness all the way up on my phone, turn down the lights in my room, and then I put the cutout with the straight edges over top of that and traced the drawing.

I used the Azure Blue marker and the Red Marker for my drawing, but of course you can use whatever colors you want.

I also drew a design on the other side of the paper so I would have art on both sides of my mug. You can do this too or leave it blank...totally up to you!

Or why not give the sheet to a kid to draw directly onto? Just make sure they know it'll be reversed when they apply it, so any words need to be written in mirror image, too!

STEP 5: WRAP YOUR DESIGN AROUND YOUR MUG

This step will be the same for all three designs.

First, grab your mug and use a lint roller to clean the surface of the mug. You want to get all the dust and debris off of it before you add the design.

Now place the mug in front of you with the handle pointing back at you. Next, take those extra three pieces of paper you cut with your design and stack them all together. These will go BEHIND your design layer.

So stack all four pieces together, with the design in front, facing you and right side up (this is really important and I learned this the hard way - lol!).

Now wrap all four pieces of paper around the mug, make sure they are snug. The edges of the paper should meet up right inside the handle of the mug.

Next, take a small piece of heat resistant tape and take these two edges together. That's it.

STEP 6: PRESS THE MUG WITH THE CRICUT MUG PRESS

With the Cricut Mug Press powered on and the power button green (which indicates it is ready), hold your wrapped mug by the handle and place it in the heating chamber.

Pay attention to where the mug handle is and make sure the heat plate appears to be covering all of your design. I have found that moving the handle to the left a little bit helps.

Now close the clamp on the top of the Cricut Mug Press and double check that the heat plates are completely covering your design. If not make sure to open the clamp right away and reposition the mug as needed and close the clamp again.

Pushing down on the clamp starts the pressing process. There is no other button to push or settings to worry about. The Cricut Mug Press takes the temperature of your mug and the ambient temperature of your room, and determines the correct settings for you...isn't that great, takes all the guesswork out! The little lights on the top of the Cricut Mug Press indicate the progress of your press — an average mug takes about six minutes to press.

When the Cricut Mug Press is finished, it will beep at you. Lift up on the lever to release it and pull the mug out by the handle, which will NOT be hot. Be careful not to touch the heat plate with the back of your fingers or touch any other part of the mug, as it will be quite hot.

Note: You may notice some scorching on your paper when you remove your mug, especially at the edges, but don't worry -- this is normal and it won't hurt your design.

Immediately place your personalized mug on a heat-resistant surface to cool. I place my mug on the same mat I am using for my Cricut Mug Press itself as it's right there and super convenient.

Allow the mug to cool down before you peel off the tape and remove the paper. This takes anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.

When the mug is cool enough to handle, pull off the tape and paper and check out your beautiful creation!

This is the personalized mug I designed with the butterflies... I just love how vibrant the colors look!

STEP 7: SHOW OFF YOUR PERSONALIZED MUG

I really love how all three of these beautiful artwork mugs turned out. They would all make great gifts for any occasion.