Framed Burlap Monogram

This project is a crowd-pleaser!!   

The framed burlap monogram is the perfect project if you don't like to sew or just need something quick and easy to whip up!  Plus--what a great gift idea!  You can personalize it for anyone!  

Yesterday was my baby sister's 21st birthday, and I wanted a homemade gift to add to the stash!  She loves turquoise, and this piece will match her college apartment room just perfectly.  I admit I did NOT have cute bedrooms in college... but my sister sure does!  I am proud to say that I just added to the cuteness :)

I started out with this $2.50 frame from Wal-Mart.  Man, I love Wal-Mart!  You can't beat the great deals!

I wanted a nice antique look to my frame, so I didn't sand it first.  I simply spray painted right over it.  See how the color doesn't all absorb easily?  That leaves some brown to show through.  Lovely!

This particular frame did not come with any kind of matting, so I made my own!!  I just traced the glass and made a mat out of a cardboard box.  (We have way too many cardboard boxes at our house because my hubby receives packages for work at least twice a week!)

I knew I wanted burlap as my background.  Yes, I am still loving the burlap!  I cut out a piece with plenty of extra room on all 4 sides so I could wrap it around the back for added security.  I just mod-podged the burlap right on to the cardboard mat!  I had to press and hold the burlap on the back just to be sure it dried nice and tight.

Next, I found some coordinating fabric for my monogram.  Don't you love the brown/turquoise color combination??  I am always looking for shortcuts, so I cut out my monogram using my Cricut.  You could definitely use a template from a computer to cut out your fabric monogram, too!  In order to cut my fabric on the Cricut, I ironed Heat N Bond onto my fabric.

I peeled off the back of the Heat N Bond, and adhered the fabric to the Cricut mat.  (For more info on cutting fabric on your Cricut, you can read this post.)  Then I let the Cricut do the rest!

You could totally mod-podge the fabric right on to the burlap... but I already had the Heat N Bond backing, so I just ironed my monogram onto the burlap!  It took about 30 seconds.  Voila!  I inserted my burlap monogram into my frame and here is the finished product:

 What do you think?  My sister loved it!!  

Let's see that before and after just one more time....

The total cost of this project was about $3.00!!  Cute.  Frugal.  Fast.  All in a day's work!!

Have a great day!!