I enjoy finding a gift that I can make in bulk and share with family and friends at Christmastime.  I have used my favorite hot cocoa recipe for years.  (Recipe below.)  Often I put it in a zip-loc bag and stick it in a gift bag and I have an instant gift for teachers, bus drivers, nieces, nephews.  Especially if I’m giving a gift card, I like to also give something handmade or from the kitchen.

I discovered this tutorial from the amazing Design Mom site.  It’s a straightforward and fun method to make monogrammed mugs (an Anthropologie knock-off) using thrifted mugs and porcelain pens.  (I got my mugs from Pat Catan’s and the pen at Michaels.)

The pen was a little hard to work with.  As you can see, I experimented with a few different looks, but settled on the “scribble font” look as the most interesting.  It’s a little “imperfect” for a perfectionist like me, but when you back away from it and squint your eyes, it passes!

I also thought it would be fun to make some mug rugs.  This was a little harder than I thought!  I grabbed fabric scraps and started sewing them together.  I cut them to 6″ squares, added a layer of batting and a backing fabric.  I sewed them together, wrong sides facing, turned them inside out and stitched around the perimeter and in the ditches.

So a mug, mug rug and some hot cocoa tied together with a cute ribbon and gift tag (which I haven’t added yet) makes a nice little gift.