DIY Texas Monogram!

Hi everyone!!

My little sister (in Kappa) turned 19 a few weeks ago! I had no idea what to make her for her birthday, but after creeping on her Pinterest, I found the perfect present!

She’s a Texas native and LOVES everything Texas, so I decided to make her a Texas monogram!

If you’d like to make your own Texas (or any state) monogram, follow my instructions for a perfect and personal gift!

Before we begin, we must gather our supplies!

Supplies include:

• Wooden Texas cutout (I got mine here)
• Acrylic paint (I used three colors)
• Monogram printout (you can get one here)
• Pencil
• Super fine point Sharpie (as fine as possible)
• Thin tissue paper
• Tape (Painter’s or Scotch)
• Paint brushes
• Fabric
• Mod Podge
• Wooden circle cutout
• Greek wooden letters (optional)
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon
• Clear nail polish (top coat)
• Thin quilt binding or ribbon (Make sure this is the width of your Texas cutout.  We will be using it to cover the raw edges.)

Now that we’ve gathered our supplies, let’s begin crafting!!

First, we are going to paint our Texas white.  This step is completely optional.

The fabric I chose to use was a little see through. I painted the Texas white so that the brown wood color wouldn’t show through my fabric.

While the white paint is drying, paint your wooden circle and your Greek letters.

Be sure to give each item a couple coats of paint!

Next, we will prepare our monogram!

Print your monogram from here or create your own!

You want the monogram printout to fit on your wooden circle as evenly as possible (does that make sense?)  You might have to print the monogram out a couple of times before you get the sizing right.

Once you’ve printed your monogram, place a sheet of tissue paper on top and trace in pencil.

After tracing, center the tissue paper on your wooden circle.  Make sure it is even on all sides (or as even as you can get it!)

Once centered, tape into place.  Because the circle was so small, I had to tape it on the back.

Take your Super Fine Sharpie and trace over your pencil lines.  Try to use a Sharpie color that is close to the color of your paint! It’s a lot easier to cover the Sharpie line if the colors are similar!

After tracing, lift up one side of the paper to see if the ink has transferred.

You want the lines to be as light as possible, but you still want to be able to see them.

Now we are going to take a darker (or lighter) color and paint inside the lines.

I like to keep a few Q-tips on hand in case I have a spaz attack and paint outside the lines!  Simply lick (or use water if you don’t want to use your spit!) the Q-tip and wipe up the paint!  If you do this quick enough, you can get up all the paint without leaving any stray marks.

After this dries, give it a second coat and straighten up your lines.

Next, we’re going to modge podge (Yes, I know it’s called Mod Podge, but I don’t say it that way!) the fabric onto our Texas.

I ironed my fabric before modge podging, because my fabric was FULL of creases!

Cover the Texas cutout completely with modge podge before placing the fabric on top.  Once you’ve placed the fabric, pull it taught so there aren’t any bubbles.

Once it’s pulled taught, place under a book or another heavy (flat) object while it dries.

Once dry, cut the excess fabric away leaving at least an inch around the edge.

Now, go around and cut strips all along the edge.

Be sure to cut more strips around the dips and curvy parts.  The more strips you cut, the tighter the fabric will fit and the nicer your project will look!

Once you’ve cut all your strips, it’s time to modge podge them to the sides of the Texas.

Paint a little bit of modge podge on the edge, place your strips over the modge podge, and pull taught.  Fold the strips onto the back and tape into place.  Make sure they are pulled as tightly as possible when you tape them down.

Go all around the edges modge podging and taping into place.

Once the edges are done, let dry.

When you turn your Texas over it should look like this!

Once the sides are dry, remove the tape and modge podge the remaining pieces of fabric onto the back of the cut out.

After all of the modge podge has dried, we are going to glue ribbon (or quilt binding) around the edge of our Texas.

My cutout was about 3/8 inch wide, so I used a 3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon.

Use your hot glue gun to glue the ribbon around the edges.  Try not to use too much glue or you will create weird lumps or glue will come oozing out the sides and ruin our perfect project!

If the hot glue does ooze, take your fingernail and stick it between the ribbon and the Texas to remove the excess glue. (This might hurt you if you haven’t burned yourself with hot glue as many times as I have and built up an immunity!)

After gluing ribbon on the edges, it’s time to add a bow around the top square part of the Texas.

We’re not actually tying our bow onto the Texas.  We’re tying our bow separately and then gluing it on.  Doing it this way gives us more control over the bow’s appearance and allows us to attach it more securely.

Take a piece of your ribbon (I used a 5/8 sheer) and glue one strip around the top of the Texas.  Make sure you only glue the ribbon on the back, especially if you’re using sheer ribbon like I did.

Once glued, take some thread or string and tie a little knot around the ribbon to cinch it.

Take your ribbon and tie a bow (like you’re tying your shoe!)

Once you’re satisfied with your bow, take some clear nail polish (I used top coat) and paint the backside of the center knot of your bow.  This will help keep the bow from coming undone.

While waiting for the top coat to dry, go ahead and glue your monogram and Greek letters onto your Texas cutout.

After the top coat is dry, hot glue the bow onto the cinched part of the ribbon.

Once your bow is glued, you are finished!!!

Jessica, my little, absolutely LOVED her Texas!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to leave a comment!