Monogrammed Wood Block

My name is Meg and I live over at A Little Knick Knack. I enjoy making fun little crafts, re-doing furniture, and sewing for my kids. I also have giveaways, product reviews and host a weekly link party called Everything but the Kitchen Sink. I hope you can come join!

There are times when I realize that I'm in a crunch for a personalized gift and have come up with a solution. It blends my two favorites in decorating: burlap and monograms.

So, today, I'm going to show you how to make a monogram wood block. Catchy title, right? I found a nice 2" thick, 4' long board in the remnants bin at Home Depot for $.50. They cut it for me for free, into pieces about 5 1/2" long.

I took those pieces home and spray painted them various colors. These decorative finials I found in the furniture aisle at LOWE'S (they do NOT sell these guys at Home Depot...grrrr.....). They come 2 to a package for approximately $3/package. They are wonderful because they have screws in the bottom and are very easy to secure to your block.

I use floral form to stabalize them while I paint.

Of course, I realized I couldn't paint them all at the same time if I used different colors. Duh. So, they got painted in shifts.

While I waited for them to dry, I used my drill to  make a hole in the top and then simply screwed my finials into the hole.

Get your sandpaper (I use a really rough grain, from 100 - 150) and sand the edges and corners.

Here's the fun part. Grab some burlap, your craft bond adhesive spray, and your stayz-on ink...

Use the Stayz-on ink to lightly distress the sides, corners and top of the finial.

Cut a piece of burlap slightly smaller than the front of your block. Start to peel away the first 2-3 strings of burlap from each side, as shown below.

 You will get a nice frayed edge. Lightly spray the burlap with your adhesive spray and secure to the block.

Get your trusty hammer and your steel tacks (found at my local Jo-Ann's in the furniture rehupolster section, for less than $2.00 a package),

And simply nail a tack into each corner.

I printed off a monogram that I liked and used a small paintbrush to free-hand this onto the burlap. You could use freezer paper or make your own stencil and use any font you choose.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and can stop by my blog, A Little Knick Knack soon and say hi!