It seems a shame to throw away a perfectly good Starbucks cup after just one use, which is why a young artist from Ohio converts them into stunning works of art. For the past year and a half, Carrah Aldridge has been collecting her used cups and covering them with colorful designs and patterns using pens and markers.

“I got my inspiration from an artist by the name of Kristina Webb who drew on a cup and then I decided to try it out myself,” the 20-year-old wrote on Bored Panda. “To say the least, it turned out to be one of my favorite things to do and now I have a little collection growing.”

“All of my cup designs are created with sharpies, a white gel pen, and copic markers to fill in solid areas or to add a gradient,” she added. “These cups are great for holding pens and pencils and definitely add a pop of color and creativity into my bedroom.”

Carrah follows a seasonal theme with her designs, much like Starbucks itself. For autumn she covered the cups in leaves, bats, and pumpkins in varying shades of orange. During winter, she covered the cups with blue and white motifs. She also decorates the green Starbucks logo with extra facial features and bangs, so the lady ends up looking prettier. She doesn’t plan any of the designs in advance – she just decides the theme and runs with it.

As her cup collection grew, she starting posting photographs of her work on Instagram, where they gained instant popularity. “My post popular cup art, being my blue cup, now has over 12,700 likes which blew my mind,” Carrah wrote.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” she told Huffington Post. “Especially for someone who’s usually so shy and quiet!”

We’ve seen artists create cup art before, like San Francisco-based Miguel Cardona’s stunning coffee-cup illustrations, and Malaysian-born Cheeming Boey’s sharpie sketches on styrofoam cups. 

Photos: Carrah Aldridge/Instagram

via Bored Panda