DIY Aisle Runner

After seeing a ton of cute monogrammed aisle runners, I decided to try it myself. I decided not to go for any fancy graphics, being that our wedding is casual & beach-y, so I decided to stay simple with our monogram.

Step 1: Design & print your monogram. This took me about 5 minutes to design, using PowerPoint, but being that I have a Mac, that doesn't have any fancy editing programs on it, I ended up having to e-mail it to my parents' PC & printing it using Microsoft Picture It!. I printed it 36" x 24", so it took up about 20 sheets of paper.

Step 2: Tape it down to the table in order to anchor it down. It took me about 15 minutes to actually piece the thing together, because I got rid of all the extra blank pieces, so I had to figure out where each one went.

Step 3: Using a pencil (which doesn't erase, so don't mess up), trace the monogram onto the aisle runner. I did this twice, because the first time I forgot to measure off the excess that I didn't need (it's a 100 ft. aisle runner, and the aisle is about 50 feet long). After I enlisted my dad's help to mark off the correct spot, I traced mine about 20 feet from the altar. Make sure you tape the aisle runner down really really well, because it slides easily, which makes the pencil marks off center, and if you're a perfectionist, will irritate the mess out of you.

Step 4: First, tape down wax paper on the table, in order to keep the paint from seeping through. Next, I bought acrylic paint (rose pink and burnt brown) at $6 a piece. It was nice to not have to mix colors for once (my one lone semester of art school, speaking). I used two different sized brushes, mostly the larger one on the "C".

Step 5: The words were the most complicated, and I used the small, teensy, tiny brush for the most part. It was tedious, and took about a week all together to complete, but it's done and there's a huge burden off my shoulders. 

So, here it is... my pride and joy. :-)