Twine-wrapped monogram door wreath

It's been awhile since I've posted! With Andrew on an away rotation for his residency, it's actually been harder to stay motivated, eat something besides frozen pizza for dinner, exercise and blog more regularly. This past week my neighbor took me under her wing and taught me how to knit and how to make organize handmade soap. That gave me the little kick I needed to get going on some craft projects! P.S. I now have newfound respect for anyone who knits because it took me FOREVER to knit 4 rows...

I recently made a twine-wrapped monogram wreath for a friend who just bought a new house. Surprisingly, wrapping the twine around the cardboard took longer than I expected. I finished playing 3 Settlers games while hot-gluing the twine to the letter. My husband pointed out that I trailed small bits of dried hot glue all over the Settlers game pieces. Oops. And sometimes I was in the middle of wrapping the twine, when it was my turn to roll the dice for my turn. Needless to say, Andrew ended up rolling the dice a lot for me.

Click below for the tutorial for the twine-wrapped monogram!

MATERIALS

• cardboard cut into a letter shape (or you can buy the letter already pre-cut)
• scissors or Exacto knife
• hot glue gun
• twine (I think I ended up using about 30-40 feet of twine)
• OPTIONAL: ribbon, felt or other embellishments

Measure ribbon for a strap to hang the letter onto the door hook, and a piece of ribbon to tie into a bow.

First wrap the horizontal edges of the letter (in the upper right photo above), so that the finished product won't have gaping holes of cardboard peeking through the twine. I squeezed a drop of hot glue, then immediately pressed the twine down, zigzagged the twine to the other side of the letter, put a drop of hot glue, and repeat until the entire edge is done. Cut the twine and repeat on the next edge. Then, I started wrapping horizontally and covered up the edges. I found that putting a thin line of hot glue held the twine down the best. Hot glue and wrap twine around and around the cardboard until it's completely covered.

• To make a bow, make a circle out of the satin ribbon and glue together. 
• Pinch satin ribbon in the middle, and glue a small band around the middle to secure. 
• Tie a knot in a long ribbon to form the straps for the wreath to hang on.
• Hot glue the bow to the straps, and then hot glue the straps to the twine letter monogram.

And that's it! Your very own twine/jute-wrapped monogram wreath. I embellished it with another bow and flowers, but you can also just leave it like it is. I used this tutorial to make the little felt flowers.