Monogram Door Decor

There was this adorable twine covered monogram door hanging I came across on pinterest.  

 You can purchase one here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/78019133/monogram-wreath

I decided to make my own.

This blog takes the thinking out of the project: http://www.twotwenty-one.com/2011/09/jute-wrapped-monogram-wreath_13.html

    Just a note: I did not use 2 rolls of jute twine.  There should be plenty of twine in one roll to cover the letter.  You'll just have to use the same roll when you change the direction you're wrapping.

 

This is what mine looked like.  And this is where the problem arose.  An L just can't hang straight.  I thought and I thought and I thought.  Then one groggy morning when David's 4:45am alarm put me in that, not quite awake but not really asleep mode, it hit me.  Put the letter in a frame.  And so it began...

First I went to Goodwill to find a frame that would  fit my L nicely.  I found an ugly gold one with an interesting texture that worked wonderfully.  Unfortunately it was an already framed picture and I couldn't tell if it had a back other than the paper that was stapled to it.  A few weeks later I went back and found a really plain frame for .99.  I brought it home, removed the glass and painted both the frame and back black.  I already had black paint but if I didn't I definitely would've bought spray paint. The cheap kind would be fine for this project.

Next I traced the frame back on a scrap of fabric.  If you don't have a large enough scrap Walmart or any craft store should sell fabric scraps for cheap.  Once the fabric was cut out I put dots of hot glue (Kindergarten teaches you everything important) around the entire back starting at the top then immediately placed the fabric on the glue so it really sticks.  Make sure the edges are glued down good so the fabric won't bunch up when you put it back in the frame.

Once I put the frame together I placed a fair amount of hot glue on the back of my L and held it firmly against the fabric for a few seconds.

Lastly came the ribbon.  I used grosgrain ribbon about an inch wide.  This part was a little annoying because it causes some measuring.  To be completely honest I didn't really measure mine but I would suggest measuring from the middle of the frame to where you want the bow to be placed because that's better than eye balling.  Once I knew how long the ribbon should be I added about 7 inches to give me plenty of room to tie the bow.  I glued the ribbon at a slant across the back of the frame for more stability.  I was pretty liberal with the hot glue this time.  I am horrible at tying bows.  I googled "how to tie a bow".  Ridiculous, but it actually was pretty helpful.  http://www.wikihow.com/Tie-a-Bow.  I snipped the ends to where I wanted them to be and VOILA!     

     *Cherise