Here is a craft and a recipe in one blog post. I don't usually post recipes because my cooking skills extend only as far as making spaghetti, but sometimes Brian will come up with something awesome that I can't help but share. One day Brian came across a brownie recipe that you cook by microwaving in a mug. We tried out the recipe and it was okay, but not amazing, so Brian used his baking prowess to concoct his own version, which came out wonderfully. I wanted some way to showcase Brian's delicious recipe on my blog and so I searched the internet for mug decorating ideas, which is how I found out about Sharpie mugs.
Since Brian and I are both math grad students, I decided to decorate our mugs with math jokes. If you're not interested in advanced math, feel free to skip ahead to the next section, but I figured I would share the jokes so that any mathematicians in my audience could perhaps get a chuckle. One reads, "You may be a mathematician if, when being interrogated as a suspect by the police and asked to prove your innocence, you begin by saying, 'Assume, to the contrary, that I'm guilty . . .' (at which point you are arrested)." The other says, "You may be a mathematician if you know the Greek alphabet, but not a word of Greek" and includes some Greek letters that I find myself using often at the bottom.
Sharpie Mugs
I found this craft here and have included my own, slightly modified version of the directions below.
Materials:
*Plain mugs
*Oil based paint markers (such as the ones by Sharpie)
*Baking sheet
*Pen
*Pencil
*Printer paper
*Scissors
*Painter's tape
Directions:
*Pick up a solid colored mug. Thrift stores and dollar stores are great places to find plain mugs for low prices. I ended up getting mine from Goodwill for a dollar each.
*Rinse off your mug to remove any dirt or other grime that could prevent the paint from sticking to the mug. Isopropyl alcohol is recommended as a cleaning agent, although I did not try this.
*Cut a sheet of white printer paper down to the size you would like your design to be and sketch out your design in pen or pencil.
*Once you have your design ready, shade in the back side of the piece of paper with pencil, such as pictured below:
*Tape your design to your mug using painter's tape, making sure not to cover up any part of your design with tape:
*Carefully trace over your design with a pen or pencil. Once you've finished, peel off the paper and tape and beneath your design should show up lightly in pencil, such as in the picture below:
*Trace the pencil lines with your oil based paint marker.
*Let your mug dry for 24 hours.
*Place the mug on a cookie sheet and pop it into the oven and turn the oven to 425 degrees. By placing the mug in the oven while it is heating, you reduce the likelihood that the mug will break due to a temperature differential.
*Once the oven finishes preheating, bake the mug for 30 minutes. When 30 minutes is up, turn off the oven. Leave the mug inside the oven while it cools. This again makes it less likely to break.
*As soon as the mug is cool, it's ready to use. To increase the longevity of your mug, I recommend hand washing it when you're done rather than using a dishwasher.
Brownie in a Mug
Ingredients:
* 3 tbsp hot cocoa powder
*2 tbsp flower
*1/4 tsp vanilla
*1 tbsp oil
*2 tbsp water
*Optional: vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, or other toppings
Directions:
*Combine flour and hot cocoa mix in a mug.
*Add vanilla, oil, and water. Mix until smooth.
*Cook in the microwave for about 1 minute and 40 seconds. It should look something like this when it's finished:
*Let cool for a couple of minutes, as the brownie can be very hot.
*Top with ice cream, whipped cream, sprinkles, or other favorite brownie toppings and enjoy :)
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