How to Make a Custom Yeti or Ozark Stainless Steel Mug for Cheap!

Learn how to make custom Yeti or Ozark cups by following this how to paint a yeti or ozark stainless steel mug tutorial.

Easter is coming up so I was brainstorming ideas to put in my kids Easter baskets that wouldn’t cost a fortune and that are useful.  I love making personalized items and realized I never had made them their own stainless steel mug.

My youngest always drinks out of mine because he loves the cold water and my others leave cups all over the house so I thought making them their own would be a win-win!  So, here’s a quick tutorial on how to make a custom Yeti or Ozark mug.

Here are the items I used for custom yeti mugs:

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon and/or Cricut.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links (purple text)

• Ozark stainless steel cup – found here
• Rustoleum protective enamel – I used Rustoleum Gloss Protective Enamel (click link): Blue, Red, White
• Rustoleum 2x Gloss Spa Blue – found here
• Rustoleum Hammered Gray – found here
• Cricut Explore  Air and vinyl – you should check out my Ultimate Guide to Cricut Ideas here!  Find tons of ideas from gifts, decor, easy projects, etc!

For my detailed tutorial of spray painting a stainless steel mug with a lot of pictures, click here!  Follow all the same instructions but stop before adding the second paint color and glitter.

For these DIY mugs, I applied painters blue tape around the top and also the bottom of the mug.  Stick press n seal around the top so the paint doesn’t get in the mug.

After you apply the vinyl stencil, spray 2 or 3 layers of Rustoleum protective enamel spray paint over the whole cup and allow to dry.  The type of paint is very important!  Some paints will just run off the stainless steel mug, so make sure you use the Rustoleum protective enamel spray paint.

For the blue mug, I applied some spritz of Rustoleum hammered gray over the blue to get a little textured effect.

For the periwinkle mug, I first applied a layer of Rustoleum protective enamel white.  Once it was dry, I then sprayed on a few coats of the Rustoleum 2x spa blue over the top since the regular 2x won’t stick so I used the white as a primer.

Once they were dry, I sprayed a layer of Minwax polycrylic over them.  Once that’s dry, it’s time to take off the blue tape and stencil.

That’s all there is to it to make a custom yeti or Ozark cup!  By using a base layer of protective enamel spray, you can use almost any color over it.  There is a limited amount of Rustoleum protective enamel to choose from so using a base coat really opens up endless possibilities!

Another possibility is applying permanent vinyl to the mug.  Check out my tutorial on how to apply vinyl to a tumbler by clicking here!

Or if you’d like to learn how to seal a glitter tumbler with epoxy to make these mugs click here!

Or I have a full video tutorial step by step tutorial on how to make glitter tumblers.

Thanks for stopping by!!  Have a great day!