Monogrammed Picture Frame Tutorial

I am still in the process of changing out much of the artwork in my living room.  It has been almost 10 years with all the same stuff.  Most of the artwork were lighthouses.  We had one picture that was a lighthouse and then everyone added to our collection and we were overwhelmed with lighthouses!

The first thing I switched out was a long frame that had pictures of lighthouses in it.  I found a beautiful collage family picture frame from Hobby Lobby to replace it.  I then used that long frame and made my Pray Picture Frame, which replaced another lighthouse decoration.

This past week, I replaced a lighthouse wall hanging with this Monogrammed Picture Frame that I have been wanting to make for a long time.

I am sorry for the picture quality.  I took about 100 pictures at different times in the day and this was the best one.  I couldn't get that dang flash to stop showing up in the picture.  Then if I didn't use the flash it was as dark as could be.

I knew I wanted to make this for a long time, but I needed a large enough picture frame.  I shopped around and found that a frame the size I wanted would be $40 or more.  Um, not gonna happen on my budget.  While browsing at IKEA, I found a frame that wasn't much cheaper, but then I went into my favorite part of IKEA, the AS-IS section. $18.70 for a 19 by 27 matted picture frame was something I was willing to spend for.

Here is what it looked like originally:

Penguins are cute, but not for my living room.  My boys were disappointed, but I am not letting a 3 or 5 year old decorate for me.

Tutorial


I measured the inside of the frame (inside the matting as well).  Then I used my Silhouette software to design the size and font of the letters.  After getting my sister's feedback on 5 or 6 different fonts (Thanks Dana!), I decided on Old Script.  Here is what my design looked like.

I used my last initial for the middle, my husband's first initial for the left side and my first initial for the right.  The M was 744.1 point size.  The C and J were 542.5 point size. Once I had it designed and scaled to the size I wanted, I was so excited that I sent them to the Silhouette to be cut on black vinyl.  I got them all cut and then I realized that I didn't transform them to be backwards.  I originally wanted to put the letters on the inside of the glass, but craft oops sometimes work out for a better end product.

Since I could no longer put the letters on the glass, I had to think of a new plan for the back.  I took the backing of the picture frame and painted it to match my living room decor.  Thankfully, the backing was a good quality and smooth piece wood.

Then I used transfer tape to adhere the vinyl letters to the painted backing.  I had to be very careful to center this accurately.  Having a measuring tape handy is very helpful.

Here is the what the monogram looked like before placing it in the picture frame.

I then cleaned the glass and put the matting and frame back together.  This was a very easy project and I love how it turned out.

On to changing more of my living room decor!

Happy Crafting!