DIY Cricut Teacher Mug

DIY monogram gifts are always such a fun surprise for a loved one to receive, and today I’m sharing one that’s perfect for the teachers in your life! This DIY monogram teacher mug that I made with my Cricut Explore Air 2 is a quick project that will be loved for years to come, and this full tutorial will guide you through making them from start to finish!

Earlier I shared a DIY teacher monogram tote bag project with you, and this DIY personalized mug is one of the gifts I’ll be sneaking inside, along with some fuzzy leopard slippers. I’m always searching for cool Cricut teacher gifts, so hopefully this will help give you ideas as well!

I don’t think I know any teachers who don’t like to sip on something at their desks, so with this gift you really can’t go wrong, especially when it celebrates their hard work!

I used Design Space images for the “best teacher ever” and arrow images, and you can read on to learn how I created the monogram design and make one (or 3!) for your own teachers! It’s such a fun DIY Cricut teacher gifts project that I’m sure I’ll use for years to come, and would be a perfect technique to use on DIY wood slice coasters as well.

Supplies: (affiliate links below)
Mug
Cricut Permanent Vinyl – I used “brushed copper”
Cricut Explore Air 2 or Maker
Standard Grip Mat
Transfer Tape (regular, not strong grip)
Weeder

Design Space project HERE. Follow the instructions below to substitute my “ESW” monogram with the one you’d like to use!
Monograma font – download for free HERE and install on your computer.

How to Make a Monogram in Cricut Design Space

First, we’re going to learn how to make a monogram in Cricut Design Space.

Once you’ve opened the project in Design Space, click “customize,” and you’ll be taken to the project screen where it can be edited. You’ll see the “best teacher ever” image as well as the monogram I used, which I’ve left in the file for reference, but you can delete now if you’d like.

Use the type tool to type the desired letters you’ll be using for your monogram. Change the font to Monograma, and you’ll see each letter three times within a design. It might seem wrong but it’s what we want for now!

Select the letters and click “ungroup.” This will allow us to edit each letter separately.

Bring the first letter away from the others. We’re going to use the slice tool to separate the first letter from the other two. Use the shapes tool to create a square, and place the square over the first letter, right up to the black border between the first two letters.

Next, we’ll use the slice tool to separate the first letter from the rest. Select the square and letters, and click “slice” in the lower right corner.

If you click and drag the shapes, you’ll see the two images were indeed sliced to create new shapes, which includes a separated first letter of our monogram! Keeping only the first letter shape, delete the extra shapes created, as well as the remaining two letters.

Repeat this process for the next letter group, but this time you’ll be using a square to slice the letters twice, one on each side (these will need to be done separately).

Once again, delete the extra shapes, leaving the middle letter remaining.

Repeat the process for the third letter group, this time keeping only the letter on the right side.

Next, we’ll need to put the three monogram letters together as one. Highlight all three and click “center vertically” from the align window. This will ensure the letters are lined up perfectly before we slide them together horizontally.

To get perfect alignment, it’s easiest if you zoom in using the + on the lower left of the screen. Use the shift key (to lock movements to the horizontal plane) while adjusting the horizontal position of the letters until they’re perfectly aligned.

Once the letters are in place together, select all three and click “weld” on the lower right corner. I found this to be a little finicky, and sometimes once the letters are welded, they will look misaligned by a very tiny amount, which we don’t want! If this happens to you, undo the weld, select all three letters again, and click “align vertically” using the align tool again. Even though I was sure I hadn’t adjusted anything vertically after the first alignment, this did the trick for me and the letters were still perfect after welding together.

Once welded, you can resize the monogram, as well as the “best teacher ever” image, as desired, according to your mug size.

How to Apply Permanent Vinyl to a Mug

Now that you’ve learned how to make a monogram in Cricut Design Space, it’s time to have our Cricut Explore Air 2 or Maker cut the design from permanent vinyl.

Click “make” on the upper right corner, and you’ll be take to the cutting screen. We don’t need to mirror the design like we would for Iron-on, and both designs can be cut from the same mat if you’re using one color of permanent vinyl.

Place the vinyl onto a standard grip mat, and load it into the machine (ensure the machine has a fine-point blade installed). Follow the on-screen prompts to send the file to your machine, and be sure to select the correct material to be cut, either on your machine or the screen.

Let the machine do it’s thing, unload the mat, and trim around the designs.

Use a weeder to remove the negative vinyl (be careful with the monogram design that you’re removing the right pieces – I did mine opposite with the first piece I cut which would have been fine except for the border area, so needed to cut a second image).

Cut a piece of transfer tape (regular, you don’t want to use strong grip) slightly larger than the vinyl designs.

Peel the paper backing from the transfer tape and place on the “best teacher ever” design, using the grid lines to place it straight. Use a scraper to ensure the transfer tape is firmly attached to the vinyl.

Slowly peel the plastic backing from the vinyl, ensuring that all the vinyl pieces are sticking to the transfer tape. I needed to replace the tiny insides of the Es with tweezers as they didn’t want to stay in place, and you can do that if needed.

Place the design on the mug as desired, beginning with the middle and slowly rolling it outward on each side.

Use a scraper to firmly press all areas of the design, adhering to the mug.

Slowly peel plastic away from design, ensuring the vinyl is well adhered.

Repeat the steps above with the monogram design and opposite side of mug.

Great job! Now that you know how to make a monogram in Cricut Design Space and make your own DIY monogram teacher mug, you can get busy making them for all your favorite teachers!