Have you seen those edible looking mug toppers that look like they came straight from a coffee shop? Well I just recently found how easy these are to make and I’m working on creating mine to look as realistic and delicious looking as the real thing! Let me show you the basics!
Supplies I Used
- Lightweight Spackling or Plaster
- White Acrylic paint, I used Folk Art Extreme Glitter
- Optional 1.3″ Styrofoam balls cut in half
- Foam sheets: I picked white
- Disposable pastry bags
- Optional: narrow drinking glass or glass jar
- waxed paper
- cardboard or flat wood piece
- Hot glue and glue gun, E6000 glue
- Scissors, Pen, maybe wire cutters, I used a tongue depressor to stir
- Your favorite mug or mugs
- Embellishments: straws, cinnamon sticks, small decoratives of your choice.
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Gather your mug topper supplies
To make mug toppers the most important thing to purchase is the lightweight spackling.
Regular spackling is too heavy and will settle or flatten as it cures.
For embellishments, I found peppermint candy Christmas ornaments for my mug toppers.
It’s best to use non-edible embellishment but I did use real cinnamon sticks and sprinkled real cinnamon powder on top of my finished mug toppers.
making our mug toppers Base
Before we begin, I took wax paper and wrapped it around my board.
Cardboard would work just fine and this is what I will be making my mug toppers on and storing them until they are cured.
The wax paper will keep the spackling from sticking to your surface as it cures.
Next grab your foam sheets and mug, turn your mug upside down and trace around the mug with a pen or pencil and then cut them out.
To save on spackling, I cut a 1 1/3″ foam ball in half and hot glued the half piece on to the middle of each foam sheet.
Once the glue on these mug topper bases are all glued and cured we are ready to start mixing our spackling!
Mixing our Mug Topper “Whipped cream”
Now I’ve seen others, use another container to mix their spackling and paint, I just use the original container the spackling comes in.
For about 8 ounces of spackling that I used, I probably added almost one tablespoon of paint.
I was going to use acrylic white paint, but this time I used Folk Arts Glitter extreme paint.
In the end, I don’t think I noticed any difference between the two.
Mix this thoroughly but don’t add too much paint as it will make the spackling to wet and will not stay fluffed up as it cures.
Then I placed a disposable pastry bag in a glass and filled the bag with the spackling mixture.
Once the bag is prepped, we are ready to assemble!
Assembling our Mug Topper
Now I am not very coordinated but I found for me when starting out piping these mug toppers, was to use turn the styrofoam ball that is glued on the foam sheet in a circle as I piped the first row of spackling.
Make sure you first row overlaps the edge of your foam sheet and then work your way inward as you pipe the remaining layers.
Once I had the first row piped, I then moved my hand in a circular fashion over the toppers as I worked my way up.
For this round of mug toppers I had just enough to do four small ones, but my previous mug toppers I was able to go over them again and add a second layer and made them a little taller and fuller.
decorating our Mug Topper
This is where you can get creative and have fun!
While your new mug topper have yet to cure, this is the time to decorate them.
I recommend sticking with non-edibles but I did use real cinnamon sticks and cinnamon powder on my second set with some straws cut down.
Please note, some crafters who make these, push the straws down into the styrofoam that is inside the base, I did not.
I don’t think my decorative paper straws are strong enough to punch through so I just cut them short!
Keep your eye out for small items to decorate your mug toppers with when your out shopping.
I found a cute peppermint bundle in the Christmas section at Hobby Lobby where all the small decor was kept.
On my first set of toppers, I used two different browns of Folk Art paint, to represent chocolate and caramel, and swirled them across the top, I was a little heavy handed and the paint could be a little thicker.
If I find a paint that works better, I will share what I find with you.
Next holiday, I think I’m going to try to shellac some marshmallows and see how they stand up unless I find some faux ones before then!
That’s it!
I hope you enjoyed this craft, Dani and I have another faux-edible decor planned and if it works out I’ll be sure to share it with you!
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Hope you have a great week and happy crafting!
xoxo
Melissa
THE LINKS ABOVE MAY CONTAINS AMAZON, HOBBY LOBBY and WALMART AFFILIATE LINKS. THIS MEANS IF YOU MAKE A PURCHASE, I MAY RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION, AT NO COST TO YOU.