Decorate With Letters - Rose Monogram

I've been having great fun for the past few months creating projects inspired by craft books by Leisure Arts! (Leisure Arts provided me with the books to review and there are affiliate links in this post, meaning I get a small commission for any purchases you make.) In February, I showed how to make faux stained glass from a coloring page using the the gorgeous Art of Coloring Animals. In March, Trevor and I played with Crafting with Felt. He made a felt rabbit electronics case and a rabbit finger puppet. April was Easy Foam Crafts and the Very Hungry Caterpillar Pencil. In May, we're playing with monograms.

I made this rose-covered wooden C:

I followed the directions step-by-step from this book:

Decorate with Letters is unusual in that it is really two books in one. Jennifer and Kitty O'Neil designed the projects in the first half of the book, which focus on decorating monograms with a wide variety of craft materials (such as yarn, fabric, stickers, shells and more). The second half of the book is all painting projects designed by Patti Wallenfang. Between the two halves, there's a lot of inspiration.

I've never painted roses before, but it seemed like the perfect way to cover my C since our last name means "of the rose." The directions were clear and easy to follow with plenty of helpful step-out photos. I also really appreciated the guide to painting techniques and types of paintbrushes at the beginning of the painting section. I don't have any training in painting (besides a 4-session watercolor class that I took as a teenager) so this was very useful. While there is definitely room for improvement, overall I'm very happy with how my C turned out.

This book, along with a plain monogram, would make a really cool gift for a child or adult who enjoys crafts. I'm already thinking about who will be receiving copies for upcoming birthdays!