diy: monogram gift boxLast night my favorite girls on the planet and I went out to celbrate a birthday. I’m usually a pretty run of the mill gift-giver, but I was struck with inspiration by way of Target on Thursday and this little baby came together. Needless to say, probably everyone else I now with a birthday coming up in the next six months will be receiving some variation of this present. It was cheap and pretty and personal and so much fun to make and I thought for the benefit of gift givers everywhere I would show off how it all came together.

Materials

1. Blank kraft paper journal (okay there’s no getting around it, I used a Moleskine)

2. White ceramic mug (I used this one from Target)

3. I actually don’t know what this is called. Filler? I found it at Hobby Lobby after a wild goose chase. I’m not going to elaborate, but this baby took me about 2.4 hours to find.

4. Candle without a huge flashy label (because you’ll need to cover it! I used a black orchid and amber candle from Target, it smells incredible)

5. Paint pen

6. Double sided tape

7. Blank kraft paper cards (Paper Source is always my go to for homemade stationary)

8. Blank kraft paper envelopes (ditto Paper Source)

9. Loads of black ribbon

I doodled the monogram first. My best projects always start with some sort of doodle in my most boring of classes (coughearlyamericanliteraturecough), and this one was no different. I know it might be hard to tell but this is actually vMc (somehow it only just hit me that the V could be considered a Y but this is not the case, people).

I then drew it on the journal.

You can’t tell here, but I actually went through the journal and quickly wrote out some of her favorite (and, okay, my favorite) quotes and verses. You can see some of those on my instagram feed if you’re really curious.

Then I drew on the mug. The best thing about ceramic is that you can do your outline in pencil and wipe it away with your finger later, even if you bake it in the oven, as I did. To get your design to solidify, draw it out in paint pen (a regular Sharpie will not work here) and then bake it for thirty minutes at 300˚. Let it cool, wipe your pencil off, and voila! Your design will never wash off.

 For the candle, I measured out how long and wide the label needed to be, cut a piece of kraft paper accordingly, drew on the monogram, and very skillfully (ha) double-sticked that baby on there. Very professional, I know.

 And, finally, I wish I had just rendered the monogram on Illustrator and printed out the cards and envelopes, but I did the stationary the old fashioned way, drawing the monogram and laurel design over and over again by hand and then erasing the pencil. I double-sticked the ribbon on at the very end. 

When I assembled everything, I used two bags of the accordian filler and made sure the mug was set pretty deep down in there. I tied box with a thick black ribbon and tada! Easy gift. The whole process took about an hour (and most of that time was dedicated to baking the mug). By all means, do this yourself! If any of you have any questions or want me to design a monogram for you, I would be happy to do so. Drop me an email, and have a happy, happy Wednesday!