DIY Floral Monogram

Hi friends!!

I made a floral monogram for myself several months ago, and I promised my best friend/roommate, Kylie, I’d make her one too! Well I finally got around to making it, so I’m posting the tutorial for you to see!

Here’s the finished product! I’m quite pleased with it, and I’m hoping she will be too!

To start this project, I would decide on a color palette.  I asked Kylie what colors she wanted, and she told me mint and black.  Well those colors aren’t available right now so I went with a blue, purple, and green palette. Sorry Kylie!! She likes the color purple, so I’m not too worried about her hating it!

Next, gather your materials!

You’ll need:

• Flowers (Make sure you get more than you think you’ll need!)
• Cardboard letter
• Floral foam
• Scissors
• An X-ACTO knife
• A large serrated knife (I used a bread knife)
• Acrylic paint (I used Martha Stewart Crafts Metallic in Brushed Pewter)
• Paint brush
• Paint palette (optional)
• Glue (I used a hot glue gun)

Now we get to the actual crafting!

First, we need to cut open the letter to create an empty shell. I used the X-ACTO knife and scissors for this step.

Use the X-ACTO knife to cut into the letter.  The goal is to make flaps that are easy to cut off with your scissors.

After cutting off the flaps, take out the zig-zag cardboard. Now we have the empty shell.

Next, I painted the outside of the letter.  I used two coats of the metallic paint to create the planter look I was going for.

While the paint is drying, separate the flower heads from the stems.  Some of the heads will pop right off, but others you may have to cut! When you’re cutting the heads off, make sure you leave a little stem.  You’ll need a little bit of stem to stick the flower into the foam later on.

Once the paint has dried, measure the interior of your letter to see how much floral foam you need to cut.

My letter measured 2 1/4 inches wide.  It’s easier if you cut the foam a little smaller than the actual measurements of the letter.

This part is tricky if you’re weak like me!  Use your serrated knife to cut the foam as straight as you can.  I find that using a see-saw motion works best.  You can try sawing back and forth, but I find that method rather difficult.  I recommend cutting the foam outside.  It can get really messy!!

After you cut the (kinda) straight rectangles, you may need to cut some pieces at an angle to fit inside your letter.  The letter “K” required quite a few angles.  The good news is the angled cuts are pretty easy to do!  Just set the foam on top of your letter, and draw a line on the foam where you think the slant should be.  It’s very easy to fix the angled cuts if you guess wrong.

Once you have cut all the foam, set it inside your letter to make sure it fits.  If you have little gaps between the foam and the edge of your letter, you can squeeze little pieces of extra foam in there to fill it out.

This step is optional, but I like to cut the foam to be a tiny bit below (or even with) the sides of the letter.

Next, take your glue gun (or whatever type of glue you’re using) and glue the foam to the inside of the letter.

Here comes the best part! Start placing your flowers!!

When I got to this point, I realized that I did not have enough of the little green flowers.  I went to JoAnn Fabrics to buy more, and they were all out.  I ended up having to buy a different type of green flower.  This is why I told you to make sure you have more flowers than you think you’ll need!

Once I got back from the store I added the rest of my flowers.  Some of the flowers did not want to stay where I placed them!  If you have this problem too, just add a little dot of hot glue to the bottom of the flower and then stick it back into the foam.

Once you have all your flowers placed, you are ready to decorate with your new monogram!!  If you have any questions or want some advice, feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Crafting!!