DIY Monogrammed Wreath

My Christmas decor theme this year is using what I already own. Fortunately, I still have a lot of my wedding decor and even better, the reception colors go with my apartment colors. Since it was a December wedding and Michael's always has 40-50% off coupons, I went a bit crazy with the glitter last year. When I got done decorating the apartment, I asked J if it looked like Christmas and he said sure, if Christmas looks like purple and silver glitter.

I made this wreath last year to hang at my reception. Thank goodness J's parents had admired it earlier and caught the clean up crew before they tossed the wreath. Otherwise, I would have a very bare wall between my kitchen and bedroom door. This project was very fast and easy to do. It was actually a last minute decision 10 days before the wedding. Even J got in on the fun!

You need a monogram (ours is from Initial Outfitters, but you can find all sorts of options online), a wreath (ours is grapevine from Michael's that my sister had lying around), spray paint for the wreath, some ribbon, mod podge, and your favorite shades of fine glitter. Y'all know how to spray paint, so I am just going to explain how to glitter the monogram.

First you have to decide which letter needs to be at the front of each intersection. I decided to make the R totally in the front, but you could intertwine your letters, too. You can see in the top picture, when I say the R is in the front, that means the R color is going to be the one you see every time the letters overlap. Before I started glittering, I sketched out the shape of my R at all of these tricky spots so I didn't have to think about it while flinging mod podge. You can see the pencil lines where the R and the J touch at the top. If I wanted to put the J on top, I would have sketched the J curves instead of the R. 

Mom and I used broken tea cups to hold our mod podge, but any container will do. You just don't want to contaminate your mod podge bottle with glitter, so it is always a good idea to pour some out for dipping purposes. Just mod podge where you want that color glitter to go. I worked in phases, as you can see above. Use whatever system works for you. It really isn't that difficult, it is just glue and glitter. Once your top letter is dry, you can start on your other letters. This is the time to fix your previous glittering mistakes. I love that I can glitter over glitter and you can't hardly tell that I covered something up.

Ooh, sparkly! Now, all you have to do is take your ribbon and attach the monogram to the wreath. This project too an evening, including drying time. And if you get tired of the colors, you can always reglitter a few years later!