Glow in the Dark Halloween Mug

I've been playing around with some glow in the dark acrylic paint and while wandering the aisles at a local Dollar Store I found a plain mug and knew it needed some glow in the dark flair! I decided to paint a face on it for Halloween, it looks quite a bit like Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas and I am just fine with that. I'm especially fine with the overall cost of this project (with coupons I spent about 4 dollars for all the supplies, and additional mugs would only cost an extra dollar each as there was plenty of paint left over.

To make your own glowing Halloween mug you will need:

1 plain mug in color of your choice
DecoArt Glow-in-the-Dark Paint
paintbrush
Extra acrylic paint colors of your choice for mixing (optional)


Start by making sure your mug is clean and dry. Next, mix your acrylic paint. I like the DecoArt glow in the dark paint because you can mix it with other colors in a 1:1 ratio. I wanted a really vibrant glow here, but decided to add in some glittery acrylic paint in gold for this mug. I've tried mixing in other solid colors and it still works, but dulls the glow a little. These glitter paints mix without dulling the glow in the dark paint, and they came in this sample pack for a dollar, great because I didn't need a lot of extra paints but it gives lots of color mixing options.

Next, I painted on my eyes. I did this first because I wanted to base the rest of my face on the size and distance of the eyes. After painting them on to my liking, I put in the nose holes and then the crooked grin.

I put on quite a bit of paint, so to aid in drying evenly I carefully laid the cup on its back, so the face I painted was pointed at the ceiling. If I hadn't done that the paint would have eventually pooled at the bottom of the eyes and possibly ran down the side of my mug. Another option would be to flip the cup every so often while drying so that it rests on the lip and then base of the mug.

*Note: While this paint works great on glass surfaces, I recommend hand washing to give your mug the longest life. I also recommend letting the paint sit out to dry for at least a week before you use and wash it at all.

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Dinosaur Garden Markers!

I always peruse the toy section of my local dollar store (you never know when you'll find something cute to send the nieces, right?). This time around, with garden crafts on the brain, I saw these little plastic dinosaurs and was inspired! They make great little garden markers for your plants, and add some whimsy to your garden. In addition, they work well with small potted plants and larger garden plots alike.

To make my dinosaur garden markers all I needed was:

A package of plastic toy dinosaurs ($1/pack of 8)
A permanent marker

Simply write the name of your plants on the dinosaur with permanent marker and allow to dry completely before touching. Place in your pot or in a garden row, and have a cute little dinosaur remind you what you've got sprouting :)