This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Sharpie, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #NeonSharpie http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.
It’s been a little heavy around here the last couple of weeks, so let’s lighten things up with a fun project, yes?
Sharpies are pretty much my love language.
That and food.
Also succulents.
Fine. There’s a lot of ways to love me. Sue me.
I have a special vase, way up high on a shelf in the kitchen of every color Sharpie imaginable. They are mama’s special markers. Kid hands can only use them with express permission and under diligent supervision.
Sharpies are awesome, and I may love them to the moon and back, but I’d rather them not adorn my couches.
Quick side story: Henry’s teacher had the kids use Sharpies for something at school. Henry was aghast and went on and on telling her that kids were not allowed to use Sharpies without an adult sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THEM AT ALL TIMES and there weren’t enough adults to do that with all of his classmates. Apparently he was completely upset by this and wouldn’t even complete the task until the teacher agreed to sit next to him. Hysterical.
And now…as if the rainbow hues of mama’s special markers weren’t gorgeous enough, Sharpie now comes in NEON. Of course I bought all 5 when I saw them at Target.
Be still my heart.
Neon brings to mind all the scrunchies, bike shorts and over sized hyper color t-shirts of my early 90’s youth.
Also Aqua Net.
LOTS of Aqua Net.
Terrifying amounts of Aqua Net.
But neon is back now, albeit less obnoxious, as its paired with neutrals and lots of white.
Neon today is more like a fun pop of color, rather than trying to look like a walking Las Vegas billboard.
I’ve been wanting to try that trick you see on Pinterest all the time of using Sharpies to decorate ceramics, so I thought this would be a great, simple DIY teacher gift that wasn’t candy.
I found simple white mugs at my local dollar store. You could also do this with a bowl or plate for a custom trick or treat candy dish.
I poked around for some cute Halloween inpsired patterns, and even found these darling monster faces…but ultimately, I decided that since the kids were going to be doing the bulk of the “art”, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible for my 6 and 4 year old.
I went with a simple candy corn design.
I measured the mugs and roughly divided by three. At first, I tried using painter’s tape to get a perfect line, but that proved to be impossible to wrap around a circular object, so I just marked the mugs every few inches around, and then connected the dots as best I could.
Which, really, is fine because the kids were coloring it in anyway. It wasn’t going to be perfect regardless.
And I love that they are all catywompus.
Because kid art is basically the best.
Once they were done, I popped the mugs into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Kids waited patiently.
Attach a note with some baker’s twine (or washi tape, obviously). Free printable here.
A couple of comments about this decorate and bake procedure:
1) be very careful as you pull your hot mugs out of the oven. My oven mitt barely touched the mug, and the marker rubbed right off.
2) I read that this method doesn’t really set the marker if you’re planning on actually using/washing it often. I can’t vouch for that since we used our mug as a pot, but you might want to test it out if you want to do this as gifts to be used as actual mugs.
I feel like the average person needs another mug like they need a hole in the head.
Teachers probably even more so.
We planted a small succulent, hoping that would be a more useful teacher gift. I meant to attach a Starbucks gift card too…oops.
I noticed that the vibrant neon of the colors dulled in the oven. It’s still adorable, but now it’s more of a standard orange and yellow. No harm no foul though. It’s still awesome.
They were nice and bright on paper though.
You can find the new Neon Sharpies at Target, and if you can find the 5 pack, there is a $1 off coupon available (the five pack is not available at all locations; while supplies last).
For more great ideas on how to use Sharpies for more than marking moving boxes, you can follow them on Pinterest here, and like them on Facebook too.
Are you doing a teacher gift for Halloween? Do you have any ideas yet? Do Sharpies make you swoon too?
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I love your kid’s project.
~FringeGirl
Tricia @ The Domestic Fringe´s last blog post ..Save Money, Swap It
Love Succulents for a teacher’s gift. Classy, hypoallergenic and low maintenance – perfect!
I think the neon sharpies are a perfect choice for baked on artwork because all sharpie colors darken or “brown” in the oven. I’ve heard that if you alcohol off the item before you color it and repeat the color-bake process the artwork will survive the dishwasher.
What a super gift idea! I love it. I think we will do this for my daughters teachers!
Lauren´s last blog post ..Halloween Art Project | Glitter Spider Webs
Those are adorable, and I love that you used my printable gift tag!!
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Students love to make gifts for their favourite teacher specially on Teachers’s day. Teachers also love their students and they really like the gifts given to them by their school students. Children presents hand made gifts and greeting cards to teachers on their birthdays and on all special occasions for school. As in this post student have made a beautiful heavy gift using sharpies and a mug. In this way students are also seeking new things from their creative minds. I think it’s awesome to teach crafting to children in this way.