It’s the end of the school year and I always like to show my appreciation to my daughters’ teachers. We have been blessed with amazing teachers every year and this year was no different. All 3 girls had 2 teachers each so I knew I had to get creative with end of year gifts. I went to my go-to source for creative ideas, Pinterest. There were so many great gifts, but I liked the idea of a handmade keepsake so I decided to make monogrammed mugs. To keep this project reasonably priced, I first searched for a good deal on mugs. I found these red mugs on clearance at Target for $.98! Score!!

Since they were red, I decided to go with an ‘apple’ theme.

I picked up red bags, green tissue paper and red ribbon from the Dollar store. This helped keep the cost down. I never realized how expensive gift bags could be until I was trying to buy 6 for this project. 😮

To make the monogram, I used sticker letters, which I found at Target and Oil Based Paint Sharpies from Walmart.

First, I removed the sale stickers and cleaned the mugs. Then, I placed a sticker letter on the front of the mug. You can measure to make sure it’s even, but I just eyeballed it.

Next, take your paint pen and place dots all over, concentrating mostly around the stencil, then doing less as you move out. This will give it a confetti look and also make sure you letter will show up once you remove the sticker. (You could also simply trace the sticker)

Once that dried, I did the same thing with another color.

Let it dry completely and removed the sticker.

Now, to make sure it wont rub off you will need to bake them at 350° for 30 minutes. Let them cool completely before handling.

I picked up a Starbucks card for each teacher, because let’s face it, I don’t know how they survive without coffee. 😂 The green gift cards work perfectly for our ‘apple’ theme.

I stuffed each mug with the green tissue paper and placed a gift card inside.

I wrapped each mug in more tissue paper and placed them in the red gift bags with a hand written Thank You card and a picture of the girls.

I love how they turned out and I hope their teachers do too. Mostly, I hope they feel appreciated because we really do appreciate each one of them.

You can do something similar without the theme or you can come up with your own theme as well. If you have great handwriting, you could do without the stencil.

Even if you can’t afford to give your kid’s teacher a gift, I think it’s important to let them know you appreciate everything they do for your little one.

I hope everyone had a great school year!!