Holiday Monogram

I have to admit: I have a thing for type. Lovely fonts, beautifully monogrammed initials, a simple, beautiful letter. You can add them to a gallery wall, tuck them into a display of objects, or add them to a mantle. So why not at the holidays too? I crafted these simple, graphic letters that you could add to a wreath or display on a mantle with mini baubles, just the right amount of graphic bling to accent your decor. Add some lights if you like, and you’ll be loving letters too.

By: Tracy

To make your own, you’ll need:

• Letter shape (make your own, or pick up from a craft store)
• Mini glass baubles.
• Hot glue.
• Wire cutters, utility knife.
• Optional: mini battery-operated lights.

Start by prepping your letter shape. I cut my own from foamcore by printing a large letter on 11″ x 17″ paper (or enlarge with a copier), cut it out and then traced on the board. Carefully cut from the board with a utility knife.

Next, I prepped the mini baubles. The ones I had were wired to tuck into floral arrangements, so I cut the wires with cutters. If yours have hanging loops, just pull them out.

Next, I glued some around the edges.  Don’t be afraid to put lots of glue – you want these to really stick. It’s best to do one at at time, but if you work fairly quickly you can put down a few.  If you make a mistake or they slip, wait until the glue has cooled a bit and you should be able to pick it off the baubles. Don’t worry if the strings from the glue get all over, you can pick them off at the end.

Keep working your way around the outside, and then the inside edges.

When you’ve glue them around the edges, start to add to the inside, overlapping as you go.  As you build up, tuck the ends into openings, and layer the baubles up.

Keep going until you’ve filled in all the gaps – check the sides, making sure you’ve covered it all.

When you’re done, you can add a hanging loop to the back, or I love how it looks propped on a mantle.

You can also add some lights for a marquee effect as I did (also here – love this multicolored version I made!). To do this, I carefully pinned the “tape” of the light around the shape, but you could also glue.  I love how it looks with the extra lights hanging off – these lights can be trimmed shorter, and are battery operated so I may hang these in my kids’ rooms after the holidays as requested. I may get really ambitious and craft a whole family of letters now!