DIY #1 ~ Monograms...

A big thanks to our Guest Blogger Sarah Norton for providing us with these great DIY segments every week. To view some of the projects she has in store for us visit my original post. Without further adeau here is everything you need to know about making your own unique personalized monograms...

"I found out very early that monograms are a great way to bring everything together cohesively in your wedding. You can use them on the invitations, ceremony décor, favors, even on the dance floor. Monograms are simply initials, usually the first letter of the groom’s last name, combined with the couple's names or first name initials. I decided to create a monogram for our wedding, and decided that paying someone to do design it was out of the question. I created ours in Microsoft PowerPoint, and saved the file as a .JPG file so that it's usable in other programs and uploadable to the internet. You can also create one using Paint with the same methods.

I first open up a blank slide in PowerPoint. Depending on how you'd like the monogram to look, you'll need to size the slide accordingly. If you're making a rectangular shaped design, your slide should be something like 5" high by 15" long; if you're doing a square design, using a 10"x10" slide will work. The larger the slide, the better the .JPG file will come out looking. I will give instructions for our initial design: a square monogram.

Once you've opened PowerPoint, go to File>page setup and set your slide size to Width: 10 inches and Height: 10 inches. Click OK. You can use the objects and shapes features to start your design. For our monogram, I first create a large "G" as the middle letter and main part. I create a WordArt object and used Edwardian Script ITC font. I change the fill color and line color black. I opted for no shadow on the G. I then enlarge the G to the desired size and center it on the slide. Next, I create two more WordArt objects for our names, Brian first, and Sarah second. I use Engravers font for these, size them to the correct size, fill them in black, and unselect any shadow. I then copy and paste the G, fill it in with the champagne color, enlarge it and center it behind the black G. Lastly, I use the Rectangle drawing object to create the boxes around the outside. The date can be added and other details also.

The finished product should look something like this... For our wedding, we're using a simplified version of our monogram (the last one) on on the belly band of our invitations, and also on our "wish bowl" cards. "