How to Make a Silhouette Travel Mug

I promised you guys a Silhouette project, so today I'll show you how I dressed up my travel mug with my Silhouette and some fabric:

If you're here for the I {Heart} My Crafty Cutter link party, it is open for new links until Friday. If you link back to me or include my button in your post, you'll be entered to win a Starbucks gift card and a custom coffee cozie! Lots of crafty inspiration there.

I am a firm believer in accessorizing as often as possible. Why shouldn't my travel mug be cute? What I had going on was definitely not cute.

That "Create Your Own Tumbler" message has been taunting me for several years now. I saw some custom travel mugs embellished with fabric and monograms over the holidays, but the $20 price tag turned me off.

I decided to try my own version with my Silhouette machine and some Clean Cut Fabric Interfacing (the kind that doesn't need to be washed and can be hand stitched). This was the perfect project for me to try--my first time using fabric with the machine!

I started by tracing the mug's template paper onto a piece of white scrapbook cardstock. I used the new template to trace on the back of my fabric with a disappearing ink pen.

Once my base fabric was cut to the size of the template, I laid it aside and cut a new piece of Fabric Interfacing to fit the design I worked up with my Silhouette software. I cut my fabric just a bit larger than the interfacing and ironed them together:

My next step was trimming the fabric down to fit the interfacing, and peeling the backing off to expose the sticky side. I placed the fabric on my thick media mat (with the fabric side up!!), making sure that my fabric stayed in between the green borders.

TIP: If you're planning to use your Silhouette to cut fabric, I recommend purchasing an extra "blade pin" so as not to dull your existing one. I keep mine in it's original packaging when it's not in use:

I was careful to choose the "Double Cut" option before sending my project through to the machine. I wanted to be sure my Silhouette cut the design, but I had nothing to be worried about. Everything cut cleanly and the extra fabric peeled right off!

I ironed my new mug design onto the front of my base fabric and used a sponge brush to lightly glue the entire piece onto my cardstock template:

I let the piece dry for a bit and then gently worked the template back inside of the mug saying bad words when it didn't want to go in at first.

Next time, I'll stitch around the design for some contrast, but my mug is ready to hit the town now...Target, here we come! Not bad for a first attempt with the fabric interfacing.

Verdict? The instructions that came with the interfacing were simple and easy to follow. The interfacing did everything the Silhouette people said it would. Clean, crisp cuts that iron right on. I am a happy camper.

I have another project to show you tomorrow using the Sewable Fabric Interfacing. I made something for the girls and ended up liking it even more!

I hope you'll stop by the Crafty Cutter party if you have something to link up. If you already joined the party, don't forget to visit some of the other links--that's makes for a much more fun blog party!

Thanks for stopping by today! If you have a chance, head over to Michaela Noelle...she invited me to share what I'm loving (and NOT loving). Super sweet and stylish blogger!

Hope you'll tune in tomorrow to see my next project.

Linking to Positively Splendid Homemade Gift Exchange

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