I love my cold drinks, and with these amazing DIY Glitter Yeti Cups, I can confidently drink my cold drinks year round! Even when it's, well, cold. I just like a refreshing drink. I'm seeing these cups {the name brand is Yeti} everywhere and I know why! They are great at keeping your cold drinks cold and your hot drinks hot. So why not take some spray paint and spray glitter and give them some personality. You can even add some vinyl and create a fun image on your cup. I'm so excited to show you how to do it!
Recently our family went on a trip to Playa Mujeres, Mexico. If you read my 6 tips for getting the most out of a resort vacation, you would see that tip number 6 is why I made this spray painted glittered cold cup. It was HOT HOT HOT and drinks would stay cold in my cup, which was such a welcome relief from the heat. In fact, I left my iced coffee in my car for five hours when I went to the mall the other day and when I got back in my car, the ice was still in the cup. No joke! This cup is seriously impressive.
Shine with Your Own Glitter Yeti Cup
These spray painted cups are selling for upwards of $60 on etsy, and trust me, they are worth it at that price. The cups themselves are pretty spendy, and the process of creating these cups can be a bit time consuming. It's not that it takes a long time to make them, it's just that you need a whole afternoon to make them because you are waiting for paint to dry. Please don't be intimidated by this process. They are so easy to make. Don't get me wrong, you could get really creative with DIY drink cups, but if you're like me, you want something to look amazing that's simple to make.
How to Glitter a Yeti Cup
You will need:
cold cup {you can use the Yeti brand cups or I found this one for under $10 on Amazon}two different colors spray paint {I like Rust-Oleum brand}
spray glitter
polycrylic sealer {not food safe-good for personal use} or Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast {food safe-good if you are selling these}
painters tape {optional}
alcohol
sandpaper {optional}
Prep your cup
You will want to prep your cup. Start by removing any stickers that are on your cup. You can use goof off if they leave a residue. Hand wash your cup and dry it. Some cups will have a lip that you may want to tape off and not paint. Do that now. Use alcohol on a lint free rag to wipe off any residue that would prevent your paint from sticking. You can use sandpaper on your cup to prep the surface for paint. I didn't sand all of the cups that I made and didn't notice a difference one way or another, so this step is optional.
I'm a little obsessed with this mama bear logo that I created in my Silhouette design software. My son is heading off to Baylor for college. They are the bears, so you can see why I'm all mama bear obsessed right now. I decided that I would create a cup with the mama bear decal. I simply cut the design out of some scrap vinyl and transferred it onto my cup. This tutorial will help you if you need to get the essentials for cutting and using vinyl.
Spray your cup
If you aren't using vinyl, the spraying process will be the same. I stuff my cups with newspaper to keep the inside protected. If you haven't already, remove your lid. I used the top of a box to spray my cup outside. You will want to place your cup upside down and spray from the bottom up.
On this cup, I used blue and white spray paint. You will want to start spraying a very fine layer of paint from at least a foot away. You don't want your paint to drip. This is a slow process. Don't rush this step! You will want to spray at least half of your cup all the way around. Let the first layer of paint dry at least 10 minutes. Then come back and spray your next color towards the top lip of the cup. Again, keep your can back and apply a very thin layer.
Continue this spraying process. You will spray at least three layers of paint around your cup, letting it dry with each coat. Keep spraying until you have your desired result. Once your cup is completed how you want it, shake up your spray glitter. The glitter will go on your entire mug, again in a light thin coat. I like to spray on the glitter at least two or three coats. Let your cup dry.
If you are using a decal, remove the decal now. You can use tweezers to help you remove any small pieces. Mine came off pretty easily once I got it started with my fingernails.
You want your cup to be nice and smooth, so you will be applying Minwax polycrylic to it. This is NOT FOOD SAFE. If you are selling these or you want to be extra careful, you can use this food safe alternative. Since I was using these personally, and I know not to lick the outside of my cup, I felt safe sealing it with this polycrylic.
Seal the cup
Simply brush the polycrylic on your cup in nice up and down strokes. I usually remove the paper and stick my fist inside the cup so that I can rotate it around and paint the sealer on the cup all at once. Let your sealer dry after each coat {follow the package directions}. Depending on how smooth you want your cup, you will want at least 3-4 coats. After your final coat, you will let your cup dry for 24 hours before you are able to use it.
Enjoy Your Sparkle Yeti
Your cup is now ready to use, maybe with a nice watermelon margarita?!?! I just love how they turned out and the possibilities are endless.
Love Glitter? Why not make a coffee mug using glitter!
The vinyl decal worked great at making a perfect stencil for my spray paint. I can't believe how crisp the lines are. Think about how you could use this for so many different things. You can monogram your cup, add a favorite sports team or put any favorite design on your cup to make it exactly the way you want it.
I have been so impressed at how well this cup works to keep my cold drinks cold all day long. Even in the hot sun.
Check out this tutorial for an iced coffee tumbler
You won't believe how much fun these are to make. I must confess, it's a little bit addicting. These make great gifts for family and friends too, so start making them and packing them away for Christmas or birthdays.
16 comments
Love the cups.....Congrats on your son going to Baylor....It is an awesome school....my son went there for his undergrad and graduate degree. Best wishes to you son.....My husband and I love Waco!
Gloria Skelton
Sic'em
Loving the look of this cup! You did a great job and a neat way to personalize something that we use everyday.
I absolutely LOVE this! I'm done with the paint and glitter steps and I'm wondering if I could use the spray version of the polycrylic finish or even the dishwasher safe (not that I plan toput it in the dishwasher) Mod Podge. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Is this dishwasher safe?
I painted on the polycrylic finish. I wouldn't put it in the dishwasher. I hand wash it every time just to be safe.
Love this!! Also curious about the spray on finish??
Congrats on Baylor! Also a Baylor mom... #MomOfANeuroNerd
Amberlyn, I haven't used the spray on finish. I do like the paint on coating and it's worked really well. Months later the cups are still holding up to near daily wear.
Is it safe to drink out of without a straw?
I have a question, I made 2 ombre tumblers today, both with the same paint but with one of the them the paint is pretty much coming off with the vinyl around the letters. Do you have any recommendations on what I'm doing wrong?
Natasha, I had an issue with the vinyl pulling off the paint too. I ended up taking the paint off of one of the cups I was making twice! Which is totally something you can do with a paint stripper in case you were wondering.
The vinyl was pulling up the letters for me too and I found that the issue was that I was trying to cut something that was too thin. I ended up changing the design and it worked great. Just don't try to make your image too small or it may give you some issues.
You may also want to try to pull the vinyl off before the paint fully dries. That may help too.
Having an issue!! I've just peeled off the decals and they have left adhesive residue behind. I tried using rubbing alcohol on q-tips but that's not working and has even caused some lightening of the paint in some areas. Im so stinking close to being finished!! What can I use/should I do?
Oh no! I didn't have the problem with the residue staying behind. I would have suggested the q-tips and alcohol. Can you try goof off? But make sure you keep it isolated in the area without paint.
If your paint dries use an xacto blade to "cut" around your decal before removing it. This will stop your paint from being pulled up.
I used Amazon vinyl...Not the good Oracle kind and had residue too. I used the same Amazon vinyl to pull off the residue. It's a pain process like waxing the cup but it worked. Next time I will use the good vinyl
Hey! Just wondering how long it takes to dry between coats?
It doesn't take that long to dry between coats. It's spray paint, so as long as you are giving it a thin coat when you spray probably 10 minutes or so. For the Poly though you want to give it a few hours with each coat. Especially with the first coat. If it's still tacky, don't paint it.
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