Upcycle a cardboard box into a monogram letter with some twine and glue!

Don’t you love monograms?  They’re always a fun for decor, gifts – anything that needs a personalized touch.

I had a shelf that looked a little bare, so I knew just what it needed – a monogram letter!  I wanted something with some texture that would contrast a bit with the flower accent I already had on the shelf, so I decided on a jute twine-wrapped monogram.

The best thing about this project is that was totally free!  You could go buy a wood letter to wrap the twine around, but if it’s just going on a shelf (like mine), it doesn’t have to be super durable.  I decided to re-use some heavy cardboard that was in my recycle bin.  I love to upcycle and reuse things whenever I can!

It turned out great and adds a nice touch for the shelf!

My S monogram was free because I had all the supplies on hand.  You might have everything you need in your craft supplies, too.  Even if you don’t have everything already, it’s still a super inexpensive project!

You just need a few supplies to make an easy twine-wrapped monogram:

• Heavy cardboard.  (I re-used a heavy corrugated cardboard box that was in good condition but would have otherwise gone to the recycling center if I hadn’t decided upon this project.)
• A roll of twine.  If you’re using twine you already have, be sure your roll has plenty of twine – you’ll use a lot of it.
• Glue.  Hot glue would probably work best, but I didn’t feel like messing with my hot glue gun, so I just grabbed some of my kids’ school glue and it worked fine.
• A large letter to use as a pattern.

I started by tracing the shape of my monogram onto the cardboard.  Plain brown cardboard is best so that there’s no contrasting color behind the twine that could show through any gaps.

I happened to have another S shape that I traced onto the cardboard.  You could always print a large letter from your computer using a word processing program, cut it out, and then trace around it on the cardboard.  Or if you’re way more talented than I am, you could draw it on the cardboard freehand.

Next, cut out the letter shape from the cardboard.  Be careful to keep the cardboard from bending so your letter will stand up straight.  Your letter doesn’t have to look super perfect when you cut it out, since the twine will add bulk and texture anyway.  (You can see in the picture of my cardboard letter that it’s not a perfect S, but the final product looks good.)

When you’re ready to start wrapping the twine, you’ll need to think through the process based on the shape of your letter since some letters can be trickier than others.  For example, you may need to cut and pre-glue some strips of twine before you start wrapping the rest of the twine around your letter.

In my case, the shape of the letter S was pretty simple to complete in one piece.  At one end, I glued down a strip of twine toward the middle of the letter, and then started wrapping it at the edge, using glue to help keep the first few layers of twine in place.  After I got it going, I didn’t need glue again until the end.

I wrapped the twine gently around the cardboard, making it snug but not pulling it too tight.  I overlapped the twine as needed to cover around the curves of the letter.

The overlapping twine still looks smooth, even though you can see the subtle changes in the twine direction when you look at it closely.  When I got to the end, I tucked in the edge of the twine and added a small bit of glue to keep it together.  The glue dried clear and invisible.

This free, rustic monogram letter is just the right personalized touch for the shelf!  I don’t think anyone would ever guess my S used to be a packaging box!

This twine-wrapped monogram project is linked at some fun link parties.