Monogramming Made Easy!!

It has been a while since my last post.  So much has happened in the past few months, moved into a new home, traveled to LA to play a show with Saliva! We also had a huge and fun CD release party to officially introduce our new CD to the world, and so much more.  I will still be very busy for the next few months with lots of gigs all over the state, but I hope to get back to writing here more now that we are settled in our new place.  So I thought for my first post in so long time I would share some pics and an idea that I used from my wedding a few months ago....

Sometimes personalizing somethings in your home is nice.  It says this is the home of the...let's say McConnell's!  However my idea was not orginally intended for my home.  When we got married one of the things I wanted to incorporate was the "M".  Being such a do it yourself gal I made all most everything for our wedding including our monogram napkins and gift boxes.  After buying an "M" stamp and not getting the results I wanted I proceeded to hand paint the letters.  Then my genious husband suggested..."Why don't you just get a stencil and do that instead?"

Light bulb moment...I can just make my own stencil!

Here is the great part I used a plain old paper plate to do so.

All you need is the design to trace on the paper plate. Once it is on the plate cut the letter out using an exact-o knife.  Then you are ready to start stenciling. I used a pouncing sponge.  I would like to point out this stencil will not last forever it will start to absorb the paint, but I got at least 25 impressions from just 1 plate.  And since it was free I could easily make this as many times as I needed.

Sneak Tip: I ordered my napkins online( I don't remember from where, so do a little Google research to find a good company).  I ended up only spending $2.99 for a set of 5 linen napkins. I ordered 5 packs for a total of $14.95. Or if you like $0.598 per napkin. That is way cheaper than you can find in any store. Then I bought some gold fabric paint at the craft supply store for $3. That was it.  My homemade monogram napkins cost less than $0.65 to make, just renting linen napkins alone are $1 a piece. I not only did I get to keep my napkins, but I can now use them when we have guests over for dinner or for a special occasion!

This technique would also work well on any flat surface or to monogram sheets.  It will not work on towel's because of their fabric.  But get creative with it and I'm sure you can find a bunch of things to personalize!
Here are a few pictures of the project from our wedding that I hope you enjoy that my wonder friend and photographer took. You can't really tell from these angles but the red napkin's under the gift boxes were monogrammed as well.

P.S. I did all of the table designs myself, and the fabulous runners I used were... Wrapping Paper!!!

Have fun being creative - Amber