If you are a female my age, chances are you’re in the thrall of Pinterest. You collect recipes you’ll never make, you bookmark dresses you will never own, and you plan a dozen different weddings for yourself that all utilize mason jars in some way. And let’s be honest– who even has that many mason jars just hanging around?  And still, we collect these projects and we share our pictures and links like their were butterflies pinned under glass.   We pin the lives we wish we could have. While politics and singe/married and religious beliefs divide us on facebook, Pinterest is the great equalizer.

from my own Pinterest

It’s not all golden in the utopian state of Pinterest.  Some people just pin really stupid things.  And some projects loos wonderful on paper, but fail in execution.  Pintester writes a glorious and hilarious blog to test some of the ideas that seem too good to be true– and often are.

But sometimes, the average girl can have a Pinterest life.  I discovered one such project recently and delight in its real world perfection: Sharpie Mugs.

You just write on the mug in Sharpie and bake on 350 degrees for 30 minutes to make it set.  That’s it.  No catch, no glitter, no Modge Podge, no mason jars. Brilliant and useful gift for anyone or addictive craft to furnish your own home.   I tried it with great success this weekend.

One for me, one for my friend’s birthday.

Quotes used:

“I do not want people to be very agreeable as it saves me the trouble of liking them.” -Jane Austen (for me)

“I’ve never been a millionaire but I just know I’d be darling at it.” -Dorothy Parker (for my friend)

After all, nothing says “morning coffee” like whip smart bitterisms from classic female authors.

For those seeking to create their own Sharpie mugs, I took the liberty of testing a few different Sharpie inks to see which ones hold up best in the oven. Many of them fade or distort in some way, but black stays brilliant. Other colors that stay true: red, orange, blue, purple, fuchsia, turquoise, brown and indigo. The others distort in some way, with yellow being the worst offender.

Before Oven

After Oven

So, go forth and pinterest all of your plain ceramics!

EDIT TO ADD: You must use oil-based Sharpies for this to work. I just found out the hard way.