Remember last week when I revealed my Uno, Dos, Tres shelves?

One of my goals for the shelving was to make it unique. I didn’t want to just put a bunch of pictures up there because I already have a bunch of pictures hanging on my gallery wall. (the one I’ve never shown you. whoops.) I knew I didn’t want these shelves just to be a repeat of pictures.

So how did I make it special? By putting a dead plant on them, of course. Well, not really. I mean, yeah – I guess I did do that. But I’m still hoping he’ll come back to life, so I’m not calling him dead…at least not to his face.

You see my “T” up there? Yes, I’ve always wanted a monogram in my home. Always = for the past 6 months. But I, of course, had to be all difficult about it and decided to make my own.

Here’s how you can make your own. You just need 5 items:

• cardboard
• pen/pencil
• box cutter
• paint
• paintbrush

All of which I happened to have on hand, thanks to free samples and Jonathan’s toolbox.

I get my cardboard delivered to me for things like this. It comes on a pretty regular occasion and looks like this:

There are just a few steps to making your own monogram:

1. Draw the shape.
2. Cut it out.
3. Paint it.

Now, I’m not artistic. Trust me. I can’t draw worth anything. I tried to draw a little stick figure of Nate a couple weeks ago and he looked like a dog. So when it comes to drawing, I always get help.

For this little exercise, I turned to my computer, went to PicMonkey and found a font I liked:

Then I took my pen and drew the shape out on the back of my diaper box. (Now, when I say my diaper box, I don’t mean the diapers are mine…only the box. in case you were wondering. because, clearly, I don’t fit in the 16-28 lb bracket.)

Here’s my drawing:

And to further prove my drawing abilities:

Wow. Just wow.

The reason I show you this pic is for everyone who says, “Oh, I could never do that because I’m not artsy.” Seriously – does that drawing look like an artsy person did it? Oh my. Maybe. If I squint and look at it without my contacts in…

Really, though, it doesn’t matter if you have a million lines on the cardboard – just as long as you know where you’re going to cut. Which I obviously didn’t. The rule of thumb is this: cut wider than you think you’ll need. You can always cut it smaller later.

Now take your handy box cutters:

And cut that baby out:

I used an old, cheap-o foam brush to paint my letter. It’s the same one I started using for Anna Grace’s tree branch:

I wanted my monogram to be a brownish-black color. So I grabbed some brown and black paint. Here’s where things get scientific. Number One: Never, ever mix paint brands:

Number Two: Always take great care while mixing your paint:

As you can see, I followed both of these rules very carefully.

And here’s the finished product:

I love it because it’s custom made – I love the shape and the color.

But I also love it because I can just turn it over and see the words “Ultra Leakguard with Heavy-Dooty Protection.”

Yep – I’m a Mom. And I love it.