Starbucks and Bling



     I'm a Starbucks nut, OK I'm just basically a coffee nut! I love hot, cold, blended, and frozen. Where I got the love for the almighty coffee bean, I'm not really sure. As a child when I would visit my aunt she would make for me special little Holly Coffee, lots of sugar and creamer. Over the years my taste for coffee has run into the uninhibited just plain black coffee of course until the advent of Starbucks. Now I love coffee anyway I can get it!
     Now a couple of years ago Starbucks came out with their insulated plastic cup. I had to have one, I searched high and low because they would run out moments after they were put on the shelves! I had a couple of them and I would carry everything in it from water, tea, and of course the cold iced coffee's. Every time I would personalize on, it always seemed to be the one cup that would crack and I would have to throw it away. This year however, they have upgraded their plastic insulated cold cups to a two layer cup that is actually removable and yes, it's bigger than the originals. Instead of a 20 ounce it's 24 ounces. I was really hoping for the Trenta 30 oz size, but still I get 4 more ounces of tea or Frappachino's for the same price as the 20 ounce!
     While on vacation this year I decided that I wanted to personalize my cup. My aunt bought a cup and we even bought one for my uncle. On a trip to Hobby Lobby I spent oodles of time in the scrapbook aisle trying to decide on what I wanted to do with the cup. While there is room in the cup for decorations on the inside it couldn't be to big. My aunt's theme was Labrador Retrievers. So a set of Jolie's with Labs, some paw print stickers (the ones that are clear except for the paw), and some cute dog sayings rounded out her cup. The Labs while slightly thick were still a great fit in the cup it's self and the inner layer screwed back on nicely. On my uncles we bought handy man Jolie and stickers, but the tool belt was a little to thick and while we were able to screw it back together it actually did scratch up the inside of the cup.
     As you can see on my cup above, I have flowers from Memory Makers which I used an all purpose acid free scrap glue called Beacons 3-In-1 All purpose glue. It's great for the heavier embellishments on any scrap project. Dries quickly and is clear. I use it for everything not paper for my projects. It's also relatively inexpensive at no more than $4.99 for the bottle that lasts a long time. I didn't have any actual individual jewels and since I love Fleur DE Li's; I found a small page of 3 of them in the sticker aisle where you will find already made bling embellishments. I had a little bit of a problem with getting the Fleur De Li's off the page so that they kept their shape and a couple of them twisted a little bit once the cup was put back together, but it's not noticeable. It's about as thick as you want to get with those cups. I also bought a sticker page of black glitter borders of different types. The one around the bottom is almost a full strip and the curly part is from another border that I cut apart and tucked underneath all the flowers.
     I think each cup took about 30 minutes to complete. I would line the outer and inner cup up together on how it would look once it was all back together to be sure that my designs weren't going to be covered by the Starbucks logo on the front or the customization strip on the back. The stickers I just stuck on there, but for any Jolie's or other embellishments even if they were "sticky" I re-enforced with the 3-in-1 glue so it stayed strong. I had so much fun making the cups, and I love the reaction that I get when I take my cup into Starbucks. The first time I took it in I was in the drive-thru and next thing I know my cup has disappeared and is being handed all around so everyone could look at it! They don't have to worry about putting your name on the cup or mixing it up with someone elses, since I frequently go in with my friend Melissa who also has a cup.
     You obviously don't have to go into a craft store to buy special supplies for your cup. You can dig into your crafting supplies of stickers, and embellishments that you already have on hand. I only did that because I wasn't anywhere near my crafting room at the time. If you own a cricut machine and have some vinyl you can even use that as an option. I think this is just a fun quick little project that can bring a smile to your face every time you use your cup. I carry it everywhere with me and I like that it has as much personality as I do.