Gallery Zoo Art: Making Art Mugs With Shutterfly

Today’s photo market has a plethora of options for turning your own photography and art into home decor and useful household items.  For me, this is where being an artist comes in handy, as I have plenty of my own designs to choose from.

Perhaps I should start with a simple truth:  I like mugs.  This is fact.  I collect mugs like some collect shoes.  I have mugs I prefer for coffee, big oversize mugs for tea, seasonal mugs for Halloween, Christmas, winter…well, you get the idea.  Plus, you can use a pretty mug for a short-stemmed flower vase.  When I discovered I could use my art prints and photography to make my own mugs on Shutterfly?  I was giddy.  Here are the mugs I have created so far:

Shutterfly allows you to choose from two sizes of ceramic mugs; all of mine are 8 oz. mugs.  They can remain white like the leaf mug on the end, or they can have different colored backgrounds and/or handles.

For the butterfly mug, I used the same image twice to wrap around the mug, choosing black to off-set the butterfly and provide a more striking (and elegant) presentation.

 

For the leaf mug I used the same image three times as a wrap, using Shutterfly’s image editor to rotate the leaf image–making it seem to tumble around the mug.  I kept the background white to highlight the minimalist design.

 

In my Halloween mug, I used the image only once, but added a yellow handle and interior to echo the feel of the giant harvest moon.  The yellow of the mug doesn’t quite match the yellow of the moon, but it was a difference I could live with.

Here is perhaps the best part about these mugs:  two of them were FREE.  Yeah, that’s right:  FREE.  If you sign-up to receive e-mails from Shutterfly, they send promos for sales AND free gifts–no extra purchase required (though you do have to pay shipping charges.)  But, if you combine the free gift with a purchase (and often you can use an additional percentage discount on another item) you can still get a significant deal.  For example, I bought two of the mugs together:  one was free, and the other was 40% off.  Including shipping, I paid only $21.00.  You simply can’t beat that for a one of a kind gift.  And if you want to go beyond your child’s photograph on a mug, you can scan one of their drawings to use–a perfect gift for grandma and grandpa.  Whatever images you use, make sure they are yours or you have permission to use them–don’t violate anyone’s copyright.  Have fun!

• • Painted Maple Leaf
  • Butterfly Art Photography

 

• • Bird Wizard