Perk up your morning routine with coffee art

Face it: not everyone is capable of stunning latte art, but that doesn't have to stop us from having a bit of fun with our frothy beverages. We spotted these stainless steel cappuccino stencils on GadgetCandy and were immediately intrigued. Just set the disc atop your latte or cappuccino and sprinkle with cocoa, cinnamon, or another coffee topper for a quick decoration. Despite the cheesy clip-art design, we rather liked the idea of a quick way to fancy up our milky coffee drinks, so we Googled around and found these slightly more classy designs as well as this set of six stencils packaged in a round tin. Clearly the Brits are ahead of us on the coffee stencil front, because most of these links are to sites in the UK; you can find a few U.S. distributors listed on MySimon.

Those who prefer an American-style cup of joe (or tea) can get arty with a Stamp Mug. The pricey ($59) vessel turns your java sloshes into lovely floral watermarks on your desk or papers. It would be a great way to give yourself and your coworkers something attractive to look at without, you know, actually cleaning.