Monogram Cards Made Easy

Put your card-making skills to work and create monogrammed stationary out of your favorite scrapbooking supplies!

Professionally printed personalized stationery can be expensive and take weeks to arrive once ordered.  Save money and time by scouring your stash for supplies that you can transform into customized, monogrammed stationery that will suit anyone’s style. 

Take a look at how I used some of my own tools and supplies to create customized card sets in five different styles, using everything from punches and die-cutters to stamps and letter stickers.

Use Punches & Stickers

	Elegant Monogram Cards Supplies: Vintage Cream cardstock, Smokey Shadow Cardstock (Papertrey Ink) • All Over the Page Rose Window Punch (Martha Stewart Crafts) • Debossed Print Alphabet Stickers (Martha Stewart Crafts) • card by Amber Daigre
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You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can create an elegant monogrammed card with just stickers and a paper punch. This particular set of cards took about 10 minutes to complete! I used an “anywhere on the page” punch to cut a decorative shape out of the top paper layer, providing a perfectly sized frame on the black layer for a sticker of the recipient’s initial. With that done, I adhered the cardstock layers with dimensional adhesive to finish off these simple beauties.

Use an Electronic Die-Cutting Machine

	Monochromatic Monograms Supplies: Kraft cardstock (Papertrey Ink) • Tea Dye Duo Ink (Papertrey Ink) Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, Plantin Schoolbook cartridge (Cricut) • card by Amber Daigre
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Electronic die cutting machines, like the Cricut , are wonderful for creating customized monograms. Here, I used my machine to create a large, focal monogram letter and then used the “flip” function to create two mirror image accent leaves. The tone-on-tone design makes this card a great option for masculine stationery! To add some dimension to these monotone cards, I used a tea-dye ink on the edges of each die-cut to add subtle shadows and dimension.

Use a Manual Die-Cutting Machine

	Modern Monogram Cards Supplies: Black cardstock, White Cardstock (Papertrey Ink) • Chevron Border Die (Lifestyle Crafts) • Small Standard Circles Die (Spellbinders Nestabilities) • Block Alphabet Die Collection (Papertrey Ink) • cards by Amber Daigre
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Get to cranking your die cutting machine and you can create some super trendy and bold stationery! That’s exactly what I did here by creating a striking chevron background using a border die. Then, I die cut a circle from several shades of bright cardstock and topped each with a simple, single letter. The result is an eye-catching set of cards that rivals anything you could find in a stationery shop!

Try Selective Stamping

	Intricate Monogram Cards Supplies: Rustic Cream cardstock, black cardstock (Papertrey Ink) • Rosie Posie stamp set {for leaf images}, Modern Woodmats stamp set, Bells & Boughs stamp set {for berry images} Think Big Favorites #3, Simple Alphabet (Papertrey Ink) • Jet Black Ink (Ranger Industries), Chamomile, Celery, Fuchsia (Impress Fresh Ink) • cards by Amber Daigre
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Alphabet stamp sets come in a variety of styles, but sometimes you may want to create a super-fancy monogram with a super-fancy font! Selective stamping is the solution. I fell in love with the beautiful fonts in Papertrey Ink’s Think Big Favorites #3 stamp set and decided to use the “M” in “Merci” as the focal on this monogrammed card. By selectively inking one letter in the sentiment, I achieved a beautifully ornate monogram. I surrounded the monogram with custom stamped wreath that I created by combining a few stamp sets. I love how the colorful vibrancy of the wreath coordinates well with the style of the monogram.

Add a Monogram to an Image

	Monogram Cards for Kids Supplies: White cardstock (Papertrey Ink) • Faux Ribbon stamp set , Fresh Alphabet (Papertrey Ink), Half Pint Heroes stamp set (Waltzingmouse) • Island pigment ink (Impress Fresh Ink), Jet Black (Ranger Industries) • Tombow watercolor markers • Corner Chomper (We are Memory Keepers) • cards by Amber Daigre
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Search your stamp stash and you’ll surely find several monogrammable images! By adding a simple monogram to an image, you can truly customize the cards for the recipient. Have a friend who loves coffee? Add her monogram to a coffee-mug image.

Even young ones can get in on the fun! Encourage kids to write thank you notes with personalized stationery featuring their favorite images. For this set of cards, I had a particular little boy in mind who loves the ocean. I added his initial to the submarine window and stamped some “waves” with a border stamp. Since this is a flat card set, I left lots of white space for him to write a note.

Final Tip: Create in Advance

Design your monogrammed cards in advance! Go ahead and create the card set and leave out the initials. This way you’ll just need to add a stamp, die cut or sticker when it’s time to create a personalized stationery set for your chosen recipient.

Amber Daigre began making cards in October 2010 when she needed a card for a friend’s wedding. She’s been an avid papercrafter ever since. You can find Amber’s creations in the pages of Paper Crafts magazine and on her blog, Damask Love.

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