Great Gifts… For Under $5.

I am widely known as "The Best Gift-Giver in the Family."

Yes, that is adorable and flattering stuff, but here's the small print: "The Best Gift-Giver" must continue giving the "Best Gifts," because everyone now expects such a thing. Every birthday, holiday, and special occasion, I bang my head against a wall trying to think of "the perfect gift."

The other catch is that… SHOCKER… I have a budget.

When I heard that my cousin's graduation open house was coming up, I started banging my head against the metaphorical wall again. Here's what I decided: Cash is cool, but it's too boring for me. I also decided that all a college student needs is coffee, something to carry the coffee in, and probably a planner because it's good to be responsible sometimes.

So I walked into Dollar Tree, and here is a list of my purchases:
Plain, Boring Travel Mug: $1
Plain, Boring Planner: $1
Instant Coffee: $1 (That may have been $2. I can't actually remember. Anyways.)

I got out my materials and my creative juices, and the rest is history.

Here's what you need for the planner:

Mod Podge
A Planner
Magazine clippings.

Now you are ready to rumble.
Arrange your magazine clippings how you'd like, and put a bit of Mod Podge under each one so they don't slide around when you do the OFFICIAL MOD PODGE.
Once you have done that, take a paint brush (Or fingers. Which is what I did) and spread big globs of Mod Podge over your creation.
Allow a couple hours for it to dry, and you are good to go.

Front:                                                    

Back:

For the coffee mug you will need:

Clear acrylic gloss spray (Found at most department stores- I got mine at Kmart.)

A plain travel mug
Permanent markers

Make sure your mug is clean, and doodle on it. (Easy, duh.)
Spray with clear gloss (outside, because it is very stinky), and allow a couple hours for this to dry as well. I did a couple coats, just to make sure it would stay.

NOTE: I am sure you could probably find some kind of water proof gloss, but I was too lazy to go looking for it. So if you are like me, make sure that you tell your gift-receiver not to immerse the cup in water. Just rinse out the inside.