DecorDIY

DIY “It’s Still Autumn” Monogram Wreath Craft

by Allison on November 6, 2012 // This post may contain affiliate links.

So this weekend I went to the hobby store to look for some faux fall leaves for my wreath project here. Imagine my surprise when there was hardly any fall stuff left. What they did have was 80% off. Seriously? We still have Thanksgiving coming up, why are the stores already clearing everything Autumn-related out. Does everyone decorate months in advance?

The bad news is that they didn’t have a whole lot of selection but the good news is they had the perfect leaves for 80% off. I guess this whole setting up every store everywhere for Christmas in October isn’t so bad after all…

This wreath is really, really simple to make and can be really personalized to your tastes. For my monogram, I went with a really scrolled cursive font but a large monogram in a dignified and simple font would have been really nice also. If you don’t have a large selection of fonts at your disposal, I’d check out dafont.com. You can put your letter in a field and search by font type and it will show you that letter in the fonts in that category. It helps because you can see exactly which one you want rather than downloading and installing a good dozen to only wind up using that one, anyway.

If you want to work up your own Autumn wreath, because despite what retailers say, it’s still falling you will need:

First things first, you’ll need to print out your monogram in the color of the paper of your choice. Make sure that the letter is large enough to fill your photo frame. Mine was 4×6 inches and I believe my font size was 145. Make the font the lightest grey option available.

Use your metallic marker to trace and draw directly over your printed letter. If your letter has a bunch of straight lines, you may want to bust out a ruler but that is totally optional.

I also added some straight lines above and below the letter to use some of the extra space since my letter was wide rather than tall. The lines helped use up the empty space without being overbearing. Depending on your font, you may find you need to do the same…

Next, take the glass from your frame and situate it over your drawn letter. Mark around the outside edge of the glass and use those lines to cut out your letter. This is an easy way to make sure that it is perfectly sized for your frame.

Take your drill and make two holes approximately an inch apart in about the middle of your frame. Make sure that you use a drill bit that is big enough to get your ribbon through for the next step.

Place the glass, monogram, and backing into your frame and close up. I’d recommend doing this after you drill your holes because I’m not sure if the glass would break or not if you put it together and then attempted to drill.

Take a good length of your ribbon and lace it through the front side of your frame so that it is coming out through the back. Situate so that both ends are about the same length when pulled through.

Place your frame on top of your wreath and try to get an even amount of space above and below the frame in relation to it. Wrap the ribbons arms around the wreath and double knot so that the frame hangs from the top of the wreath.

Go about six inches up and double knot the ribbon again. Cut the extra ribbon. This area will act as the wreath’s hanger.

Make a big bow out of your wreath and hot glue it to the ribbon coming through your frame to conceal.

Pull some of your faux leaves off of their stems. I purchased garland because I got the best bang for my buck. To keep from messing up the whole thing, I removed a good-sized handful off of one end and removed more as needed. I still have a good 4 feet of good-to-go garland!

Pull out all straight pins you have that have heads that are similar in color to your leaves or wreath. Drive the pins through the circle in the plastic that normally holds the leave onto its fake stem. Continue to fill the wreath and arrange to where one leaf covers the pin of another to keep them well disguised.

You can attempt to use hot glue for this rather than the pins if you prefer, but I tend to have a difficult time working with glue on a straw wreath.

And that is all there is to that! My project wound up being pretty darn inexpensive and if you hit the clearance racks at hobby stores before all of the steeply discounted Autumn goods are sold, it will be cheap for you, too! Just think, you’ll have a gorgeous wreath on your front door greeting your Thanksgiving guests!

Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.