Sharpie Oil-Based Marker Project

[let's take a break from house-building and do a little crafting...shall we?]

I love receiving handmade gifts and I love to give handmade gifts.  When you don't have time to create something from scratch, or when you want to make it extra special...personalize it!

These oil-based Sharpies make it so simple!  I ordered a 15 piece set from Amazon, but they are available in sets of 5 or individually at your local craft stores. Then I went shopping for some white ceramic serving pieces.  I found the most perfect options at TJMaxx for a reasonable price.  A serving tray and a small fluted bowl that matched. 

For the design, I knew I wanted to make old-school holiday lights.  They are timeless, modern, and little bit retro and so much fun!  I started by free-handing the bulbs, placing them in random angles but trying to keep a similar spacing between them.

Maeve wanted to help, so I watched while she drew the black squares at the base of each bulb.  She did a great job, huh?! And she's crazy cute with that look of concentration!

Caramel corn gives you crazy crafting powers, by the way.

Then just connect the light bases to one another to form the string of lights...adding a few loops, of course!

I used my Silhouette to cut some contact paper into a stencil to add the name to the tray and bowl.  And on the bottom I crossed out the "dishwasher safe" that was printed on the back and wrote, "hand wash me" and added the year as well.  You could also include your "To:" and "From:" on the back to further personalize! 

These markers do not indicate that they are food-safe.  I also could not find any instructions for 'setting' the paint.  Unsure, I put them into a cold oven.  Turned it on to 350 degrees and set the timer for 30 minutes.  Then turned the oven off, but leaving the tray & bowl inside until they cooled.  That took most of the afternoon.  

I knew these would be more of a display and maybe once a year would be filled with peanut m&ms and maybe some cookies, but I thought maybe setting the paint this way would give it a bit more life. 

Easily adapt this for any holiday - hearts, shamrocks, stars and stripes...of simply a name or monogram.  This would make a wonderful hostess gift as well!  

...to remember this project for next Christmas!