Monogramming a Graduation Cap

As a married gal, I can’t help but want to monogram everything in my life. When the girls in my cohort and I started talking about getting together to decorate our graduation caps, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

MONOGRAM IT.

How does one monogram a graduation cap? I’d say it’s easy- but I’ll say that this is more of an intermediate level DIY project.

Materials:
Graduation Cap, E6000 glue, White Crayon, Exacto Knife, Craft Cutting Mat, Tape, Computer, Printer, Craft Tweezers, Rhinestones, Paper/Plastic plate

First, I downloaded some pretty monogram fonts. I found that Cursif and Monogram KK looked like fonts you would use for a cursive style monogram, and that was perfect for me. I ended up using Monogram KK for my cap and started my project using plain ole Microsoft Word.

• I started with the “W” (my last name) at 450 pt. font and created a text box without borders and without fill.
• Then, I created the “S” (my first name) at 300 pt. font with another text box without borders or fill.
• You may need to put your smaller letters with a “send to front” format.
• Lastly, I put the “N” (my middle name) at 300 pt. font with another text box without borders or fill.

You may have to play with your fonts and text boxes to turn out perfectly, but you can do it! Once you’ve got it perfect, print it out. I printed mine and made sure it was the right size for my graduation cap.

Here’s where things got tricky- I had to cut out the sucker so this could be a stencil. My plan? Use an Exacto knife (it’s best if you put your paper on the craft cutting mat to prevent you from messing up your table) to cut out all the BLACK parts of the letters. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but definitely needs to be fairly close. This may seem like a simple task, but if your letters are anything like my “S”, there is some white that may be cut out when you cut the black. Just tape it back together and you’ll be fine.

Once everything was cut out, I centered my monogram to my cap and taped it down. When everything was taped, I used a white crayon to color in my stencil so I would know where to glue the rhinestones.

Wherever white crayon was on my cap, I rhinestoned. I used E6000 glue and put half of a dime size onto a paper plate at a time (this stuff dries fast!) and picked up my rhinestones with a pair of craft tweezers that I had so I didn’t get glue all over my hands.  You can see how the crayon/rhinestone looked mid-process below:

I used purple 4 mm and 6 mm rhinestones for my monogram. It was helpful to have the smaller ones to fill in gaps, as well as line the skinnier parts of the letters. It took me about 2.5 hours, but I got this awesome result:

Overall I LOVE how it turned out. I originally was going to cover the black cap with white rhinestones and have my monogram, but since my monogram took 2.5 hours, I was exhausted and decided to put a few accent rhinestones on the sides.

Pro tip: Make sure that if your design is supposed to go over the graduation cap button that you do the design on it as well. Otherwise, people from far away will just see your button and not your overall design.

I had a blast at Dara’s house and I’m so glad she invited us to come over. It was a great time of crafting, snacking, and talking about graduation/potential jobs. I definitely can’t wait to see how we all look on Saturday when we graduate!

What do you think of my DIY? Have you ever decorated your graduation cap (college or high school?) Show me your pics if you have them!

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