Creative DIY Mug Designs For You To Try Out

Updated: Dec 6, 2021

Hey you guys! I bet you've already started feeling the Christmas vibes, even those of you that refuse to move on from Halloween! When people say Christmas, we all think 'gifts', don't we? Well, I sure do. But along with that, comes the dilemma of picking out the best gifts for your loved ones. Nowadays, people try to come up with new and unique gift ideas, but I feel like a traditional gift would be the best for an occasion such as Christmas. So let me start pitching my not-so-unique ideas in relation to mugs!

Personalized mugs are one of the most frequently purchased gifts for various occasions like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Christmas, etc. While there are many stores that offer mug customization services, nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment you get when you do it yourself. If you take a quick look around the internet, you can find a plethora of ways to design mugs, and in this post, I'll be going through some of the most creative DIY Mug designs I've come across on Instagram.

Sharpie

As the name entails, these designs are done using sharpies. All you have to do is to get some sharpies and draw your design on the mug. What makes it so awesome is that just about anyone from toddlers to elders can do it. So it would be a really fun activity for your family to get together and personalize their own mugs! However, the problem with sharpie mugs is that the ink goes off after a couple of washes. Plus, depending on the quality of the sharpie you use, how long it lasts varies.

Vinyl sticker

This is a more wear-safe option than sharpies. You can literally print anything you want onto your mugs if you have a vinyl sticker printer at home. Simply find or draw an image you want, send it over to your sticker printer, print it out, and stick it onto the mug. It can't get any easier than that, can it? To be honest, you could even start your own mug customizing business once you get a hang of it!

Mug press

This is a much cleaner way to get a whole picture printed on your mug. It can be a photo, a painting, words, or whatever you please. And the great thing is that it evenly covers the entire surface of the mug. To try this out you'll need a mug press. The Cricut mug press is highly recommended for it.

Hand-painted

I personally love making hand-painted mugs because they give a very personalized effect. You can use acrylic paint for it and apply a layer of gloss to seal your paint in so that it doesn't get scratched. It's a cool craft activity to get your kids hooked to.

Polymer Clay

I got to know about mugs with 3D figurines on Instagram (I seem to find everything on Instagram, lol). It looks simply amazing! Polymer clay is used to make the figurines. And to stick your figurine onto the mug there's a special adhesive for polymer clay. You can find it in the recommended products below. You can recreate images of your loved ones and I think that would be a perfect gift for Christmas!

Embossed Design

This is more like giving a 3D effect to your hand-painted mugs. This too can be achieved using polymer clay. If you want to give your mugs a glossy look and seal the design, you can use a polymer gloss.

Upside-down

The upside-down mug prank was super popular in the recent past. Usually they just flip an actual mug upside down to do it. But what if your mug only looks set right if it's actually upside down? That would surely trick even the most observant ones. You can easily make one of these by printing your mug design on upside-down.

Odd Shapes

Mugs with odd shape are good for visuals but not so great for real use. If you're one of those dish collecting fanatics, these would be great for you. You don't really need a pottery wheel to make some of these designs. Just get a blob of clay and go to town with it! Once you've made the shape you want, you can either bake it or set it off to dry, and then paint over it.