{DIY} Monogram Prints

Husband and I have been married for almost 5 years now, and up until a few weeks ago we'd never had a headboard.  I know I easily could have made one, but we didn't actually have bedroom furniture that was worth a darn, either.  I had just kinda given up on decorating our bedroom and focused on the parts of the house that company sees...  Then we were given a nice set of furniture (including a bed frame and headboard), and my creative juices started flowing!

This project really made our room look nice and didn't take a whole lot of time or money!

Nevermind Basil (our Yorkie) she's a permanent fixture on the bed...

What you'll need:

• 2 18 x 24" Frames (Michaels almost always has these on super sale - I got mine for 60% off)
• 2 18 x 24" Mats with 12 x 18" Openings
• Mod Podge
• Coarse Bristled Paint Brush

What to do:

I created the monogram designs in Corel PaintShop Pro (I think it's easier and more intuitive than PhotoShop).  To replicate, you can use the JPG files that I've attached to this post (at the bottom).  You'll just need to add the monogram using photo editing software.

Order a 12 x 18" photo print of each monogram.  I found it the cheapest at Walmart Photo (ordered online, picked up in store).

At first, I just hung the photos in the frames, but the prints looked like photo prints (probably because they are).  They shined oddly when the light hit them and looked really cheap. 

To fix this, I painted over the entirety of both prints with Mod Podge.  Using a coarse-bristled paint brush, make quick, erratic strokes all over the print.  Make sure to cover all of the edges.

Then, when the first coat is about 80% dry, start the second coat.  This gave them the rougher look that I was going for. 

Once the second coat is fully dry, it should have a painted canvas effect.  This was really hard to get on camera, because you can only see it when there's direct light (but the camera flash was too much light)...

All you have left is to center & tape the prints in the mats and then put the mats in the frames.  Hang the frames on the wall, and you're done!

Here are the background templates.  You should be able to click the pictures to get a larger version and then right click & save.  If you're trying to match the red color it's HTML #800000, or R:128 G:0 B:0.  I used the Castellar font for the monograms.