Kate Spade Inspired Mug

Create a Kate Spade inspired mug with Silhouette vinyl by Two Purple Couches #silhouette #vinyl #diy #knockoffproject #katespade #diyproject

I love it when I get to wear my DIY hat to work. While my job as a copywriter is creative, I don’t usually get “hands on” with design and diy kind of work. So I get excited when the opportunity arises. Sometimes for projects, we get to dimensionalize the type of consumer we’re trying to reach, and that means we get to bring them to life in a real sort of way. And for a recent project, that meant I got to whip up a Kate Spade inspired mug to represent our target consumer.

And to make said Kate Spade inspired mug, I decided it was time to try out the gold vinyl I bought for my Silhouette Cameo.

I’ve felt really intimidated at the thought of working with vinyl, and I’m not sure why. It’s not a complicated material; it feels sort of like a thick paper. But for some reason, it seemed so complicated to me. Probably because I still doubt my abilities with my Cameo, and mostly with the design software.

But for this mug project, free-handed paint pen lettering just wouldn’t cut it. I needed it to look quasi-professional. And that’s where gold adhesive vinyl* came in.

I brushed up on a few Silhouette vinyl tutorials (this one was pretty helpful), and got to work.

Set dimensions in Silhouette Studio #vinyl #diy #knockoffproject #katespade

I set my workspace dimensions, typed out my Kate Spade inspired phrase and hit “cut”. This was the easy part.

Vinyl lettering cut and ready for transfer #vinyl #diy #knockoffproject #katespade

Transferring the letters is where things got tricky. I didn’t have any Silhouette transfer paper on hand, nor did I have any contact paper, which I’ve read works well in a pinch. Short of hand-applying each letter, I turned to Google for help, and found this bit of advice: try painter’s tape (like this one*)

So I did. And?

It worked. Sort of.

Tip: use painter's tape to transfer vinyl onto surface. #vinyl #diy #knockoffproject #katespade

I had to make my own steps, so instead of removing the excess vinyl from my mat, picking up my lettering and applying it, I removed the letters from the mat with a strip of tape.

They came up pretty easily, but getting them onto the mug was a different story!

Tip: Transfer vinyl lettering and designs using painter's tape. via Two Purple Couches #silhouette #vinyl #diy #diyproject #knockoffproject #katespade

I think because the letters were so skinny, they didn’t adhere too well to the mug and just kept sticking to the painter’s tape. So I pretty much wound up hand-applying each letter.

Had I picked a beefier typeface, I think this painter’s tape trick would’ve worked like a charm!

Cute kate spade inspired coffee mug via www.twopurplecouches.com #katespade #diyproject #knockoffproject #silhouette #vinyl

But even with this skinny-typeface-hiccup, this project came together very quickly! And it’s super cute. So that’s a win-win for sure!

Make a Kate Spade inspired mug using Silhouette vinyl / via www.twopurplecouches.com #katespade #silhouette #vinyl #diyproject #knockoffproject

Just don’t look too closely; some of the letters are a bit wonky. Oh well! Such is the diyer’s life 😉

Am I the only one who charges head-first into projects without figuring out if I even have the right materials on hand? And I do it all the time, so clearly, I never learn to plan ahead!! I do this with recipes, too…

*Some links contained in this post are Amazon affiliate links, meaning if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost). Thank you for helping to support Two Purple Couches!

Sharing with: Creative Spark  / Share It Sunday / Work It Wednesday / Outside {the Box} / Pretty Preppy Party / Weekend Retreat / Something To Talk About

48 thoughts on “Kate Spade Inspired Mug”

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  14. Megan

    How adorable! Perfect way to start the morning!

    Thank you for linking them up to Outside the Box link party! Your projects is being featured on our blogs today!

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  19. Lisa

    Hi Emily, this mug is adorable and I can’t believe you made it and got all the letters straight….lol, mine would be crooked. It’s darling. Thanks so much for coming over and linking up to our Something to talk About link party. You’re the best, Lisa at Concord Cottage
    Lisa recently posted…Something to Talk About Link Party 6My Profile

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  22. Nancy

    Very cute mug! I love all things Kate Spade and Kate Spade inspired. I’ve done skinny vinyl letters on a wine glass before and thought I was going to tear my hair out! But the end result is so nice that I forget about how crazy it made me!
    Nancy recently posted…Liebster award nominationMy Profile

    1. Two Purple Couches Post author

      Thank you, Nancy! I was definitely second-guessing the skinny letters while I was applying them to my mug, but the hassle was worth it in the end 😉

  25. Alexia

    Beautiful! Did you do anything to “seal” the letters after application? Would the letters come off in the dishwasher? Thanks so much!

    1. Two Purple Couches Post author

      Hi Alexia,
      I didn’t seal the letters on in anyway. I also haven’t tried running this mug through the dishwasher, so I’m not sure how the vinyl would hold up. I’ve been hand washing it to be safe!

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