This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
I know plenty of teens are ready for school to be over and to get out into the real world. But that was never me. I loved school and wasn’t really ready for it to be over. My circle of friends was tight and there was always something fun to do. Learning was pretty cool and I had classes I really enjoyed. I was lucky because I went to a small school and everybody was pretty nice. Graduating with 71 others my senior year, not all were my friends but there wasn’t anybody that I didn’t get along with, either.
I think that a part of why my school experience was always so positive is because I had awesome teachers and an amazing principal. The other day I was going through some of my keepsakes and came across a book. Inside one of my favorite teachers wrote an encouraging note that I had it in me to do good in the world. She was not a good teacher. She was a smart, funny, caring and nothing short of extraordinary teacher.
And so as I realized the school year is winding down I felt like it was a good time to work on a teacher appreciation gift. Because any teacher that has kept it together during this confusing, frustrating, and difficult school year deserves to be thanked.
Supplies & Tools Needed to Make a Composition Book Mug
- Ello Campy Travel Mug
- Permanent Outdoor Vinyl (Amazon ⋆ Cricut ⋆ Expressions Vinyl)
- Transfer Tape (Amazon ⋆ Cricut ⋆ Expressions Vinyl)
- Cricut Maker, Joy, or Explore Air 2
- Weeding Hook & Scraper
This project was inspired by so much of my life… a Target run :) When Ello Campy Travel Mug I instantly thought it looked speckled just like a composition notebook. And I had wanted to make a mug but I didn’t really want all of these cuts of white vinyl all over the mug to mimic the composition book look. It just seems like with all of these little pieces you’re going to snag them on your ring or something and I worried it would look bad fairly quickly. Problem solved!
One thing I should note is that right in the center of my design there is a THICK white blob. Though it didn’t show up so in the photos, in real life you can kind of see the bump.
SVG and Other Cut Files Files Are Available for Free to Our Newsletter Subscribers
Newsletter subscribers get this and other files at Dream a Little Bigger for free. (Yay!) Not a member? Signing up is easy and costs nothing. Enter your information in the form below below to join our growing community of makers. You’ll get this freebie emailed to you. As a member you’ll also get post updates, tips and tricks, craft & DIY inspiration, and more sent right to your email a few times a week. Questions or download issues?
Free Composition Book Label SVG
Sign up for our newsletter and you’ll get an email to download your free file.
Cut Your Files and Transfer the Design to Your Mug
Cut your label out of white and weed away the inner line around the inside of the label, the line for the name and the bulk of the letters for “composition book” minus the inside parts of the “O”, etc. Cut a piece of transfer tape and apply it to the weeded label. Drag a scraper along the top of the transfer tape, applying pressure. Carefully peel up the transfer tape. Once the design 100% sticks to the transfer tape peel it away from the backer sheet. Place the decal onto the mug and use your scraper to apply pressure to stick it to the mug.
Now we need to create the custom name to cut out of a brightly colored vinyl. Ready?
Creating Your Cursive Custom Name in Cricut Design Space
In Cricut Design Space type in the name as you’d like it to appear in a cursive font. We used the Cricut font Emiline.
Select the name and right click. Choose “UnGroup” from the menu.
Drag each letter and tweak so that they fit together neatly.
Got a Weird Filled In Letter? No Sweat!
Hold down the “Ctrl” button your keyboard and hit the “Z” button at the same time to undo the weld.
Select the letters before the letter that messed up, right click and select “Weld”. Repeat for the letters on the other side of the one that went wonky (for us, the a). See in the layers panel we have Weld Results that read “cher” Te” and “a”?
Select all of these layers, right click, and select “Weld” to create a word that will cut out as one perfect shape! I honestly don’t know why this happens, but luckily it’s an easy fix. If the steps below don’t fix your issue you can reboot your computer to see if that helps. If it doesn’t leave a comment on this post and I’ll personally help you figure the problem out.
Caring for your Composition Book Mug
Outdoor permanent vinyl is technically water resistant but that doesn’t make it dishwasher safe. I’d strongly suggest hand washing your mug. If gifting a little tag or a note inside of the mug suggesting to hand wash is a great idea. With a little care this is one fun little gift that will last teach many semesters to come!
