How To Make A Magazine Monogram
Every time we post a photo that includes the frame collage above our living room’s console table like this…
…or this…
…. or this…
…. we get a slew of emails asking where we bought or how we made the big P print that’s front and center. Well, it’s actually just the first letter of an article in a magazine that we cut out in a neat little 1 x 2 inch rectangle and had blown up around 300% at Kinko’s. Here’s an example of the portion of the magazine you’d clip out and blow up (see that little box around the big first letter?):
Making it huge and putting it behind glass instantly created a customized monogram with very little work on our part, and we love how it came out! Just flip through magazines until you find your initial and head over to Kinko’s. A few dollars later it should be ready to frame (they look especially great with giant mats and pretty hefty frames to dress them up).
So you too can master the P (get it? Master P? no?) or any other letter that you’d like…
Psst- Looking for more easy DIY art ideas? Check out the bevy of links on our How To page in the “Artsy Ideas” category. And if you’re searching for framing arrangement ideas, this little video tutorial should have you covered.
Scanned magazine image (without the box that we added) found here.
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Comments
Sherry,
I love this idea! I was just wondering what kind of paper you printed on. And did they have it a Kinko’s or did you have to bring it in with you?
We just used the stock paper at Kinkos that they already had loaded in their printer. Easy as pie. And a large frame with a substantial mat really dresses it up (and makes it look beefy and high-quality). A few years later ours still looks great. You could also bring heavier weight paper if you’d like a more hefty end result. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
hey J & S,
I tried the method of cutting out an image and then blowing it up, but the kinko’s I went to didn’t blow up the image very well. Granted, I did print out the letter instead of cutting it from a magazine, so that might be why the image was a little pixilated, but do you have any suggestions for other options?
Hmm, maybe you could try finding it in a magazine instead of printing since printed letters can be harder to blow up super cleanly? You also could try printing the letter as large as possible at home before blowing it up (ex: if you print it close to 8 x 10 at home and blow it up 80% it’ll look clearer than printing it smaller and blowing it up 300%). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
They’re just words from a real article in the fashion magazine that I snipped it from (Vogue). You can see the top of Oscar De La Renta’s name at the bottom. Funny right? The main thing was the big P for our last name: Petersik. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi John and Sherry, I have been searching EVERYWHERE (even resorting to google images) for a Q for our monogram print for a few months now. As you can imagine, not many stories have an opening line that starts with a Q. Do you have any suggestions of where to look, or key words I might use? I wish I had seen when you guys were selling these in your shop!
Oh no that’s tough! Maybe you can make a fake one yourself in Photoshop or Word (just mimic the ones we show above and cut off sentences for the same look). We know of a few readers who made their own that way (without having to flip through magazines or blow things up at Kinkos) so it’s definitely doable! Good luck.
xo,
s
I just made one of these as a housewarming gift – I needed a letter K and it took a while to find one in a magazine. I finally found one in Cook’s Illustrated, which is a great source for a variety of letters in a very traditional “magazine” look. All of their articles are laid out with the large beginning letter, and the type is all black, which makes it easier to copy.
Just wanted to let everyone know about a great letter source! And this is such a cute idea – thanks for sharing it!
Just found your blog! LOVE IT! Where did you get the adorable rug in your living room! Thanks for all the great tips and advice!
It’s the moorish tile rug from Pottery Barn. They no longer sell it so you might want to try ebay. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
To Nicole Zoe who couldn’t find the letter “Q”: Try the Question and Answer section of magazines, I found a nice “Q” (as in Question) in Redbook in that section.
You can also make your own “drop cap” letter with custom print by typing it up in Microsoft Word 2007. Highlight your first letter, go to the “Insert” menu, and then select “Drop Cap” from the “Text” section. Viola! Then you can have fun changing colours, fonts and sizes! It will be just like in a magazine and it will say exactly what you want — so even better! You can make it really fun by typing up a favourite quote, saying or even some of your favourite book. I think I will make one for my little girls room! Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi Sherry!
I was wondering how large your monogram print is. It’s hard to tell if there is a mat in your frame– if so, how large are the frame and the mat opening?
Thank you!
Hey Emily,
Good question! Our frame has a 19 x 15″ opening and we blew our monogram up to roughly 13 x 11″ and then just mounted it with a large white mat around it to fill up the rest of the frame. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hello,
I have just recently become engaged and found your blog (right about the same time actually). I’m not really a do it yourself girl, just yet at least, but I love all of your blogs/information.
I have one specific question about this project… you mention a lot about some sort of mat which you place in the frame, “then just mounted it with a large white mat around it to fill up the rest of the frame.” What exactly is this mat and where can I find one, make one or buy one to put into my magazine monogram frame?
Thank you,
Jazmine
Hey Jazmine,
Lots of frames come with mats (they’re thicker boards, sort of like extra durable poster board with a rectangle cut out to “frame” the art so there’s a nice thick white border around the print between the frame and the art). So if yours comes with a mat you’re all set (ours did) but if yours doesn’t you can go to any craft or art store and say you’re looking for a “frame mat” and they can show you a bunch of different sizes. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I searched for a “meaningful” article that myself, my school, my husband, his work….were mentioned in to pull the monogram from. no luck. Then, i read through our recent wedding vows and found a great paragraph that started with C and was set! Now our beautiful C monogram will remind us daily of our vows – thank you guys for the easy diy help!
Not sure if you mentioned this, but do you know what are the sizes of the above frames? I’m looking to do this exact same thing and wondering the porportions – Thanks!
All of the frames are from Ikea, so the sizes aren’t perfectly standard. The center frame measures 15×19″, flanked by two 8×10″, with a 5×7″ frame stacked on top. And the outer frames measure 12×15″. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I had a hard time trying to make this on my own. I ran across a shop on Etsy that makes something similar. It is a framed print with a “monogram” but rather than random words it is a quote. I ordered a custom print for my last name (E) and it turned out great!
fewkindwords.etsy.com
just wondering what other things were in your frames? Are they pictures or other magazine pages? I am looking for cheap (as in free, not cheap looking) things…will have to look at wrapping paper and scrapbook paper as well. Any other ideas? Also, any idea how to fix my picture taking dilemma….I take pics of my kiddos all the time (sony digital camera) but when I print them they are 4 x 5.5 or something like that b/c the 4×6 would crop out some of the pic…hence all my 4×6 frames are slightly too big…just thought I’d ask! Thanks in advance!
Check out the “Artsy Ideas” category on our How To page (see it under the header?) for more DIY ideas. We framed the sketch of our land from our house’s closing, a few photostrips from our wedding, and some pictures we took. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
What is the size of your middle frame? I’m trying to do something similar and having a hard time finding such a large frame. Thanks!
Love it! Thanks for sharing the link and the idea!
xo,
s