Monogram Jute Initial

I always love the letters I see in home goods stores to display on a mantle or bookshelf, but they always are so expensive! And, when they do go on sale, all of the good letters are sold out. Instead of waiting around for one, I decided to make my own. It's really cheap and easy too.

What you will need:
Cardboard
Jute (mine only cost $1 for 3 rolls at the dollar store)
Hot glue gun

The first thing you need to do is figure out the size and font type you want your letter to be. I used Word and made my letter fill the whole page and printed it. Then you want to cut out 2 cardboard letters from the letter you printed (or more if you want your letter thicker.)

Lay the 2 cardboard letters on top of each other. To make sure the jute was secure when I started wrapping it around the letter, I wedged the tail of it between the 2 cardboard letters.

Start wrapping the jute around the cardboard. Make sure that it is tight around the cardboard, otherwise it will unravel.

You want the jute to pretty much wrap in the same direction, otherwise it will look messy. Depending on your letters, you may need to cut small strands and glue them down like I have done in order for it to look neat and pretty. This is up to you, wrap that letter however your heart desires!

I wrapped the leg of the L perpendicular to the base to make my life easier! Then cut strands for the top portion like I did for the base.

Before I was completely done with the top part, I cut 3 strands of jute the length that I wanted it to hang. I braided them together, inserted them between the 2 cardboards like I did in the first step, and secured them in with a dab of glue.