GE Designs: Monograms

Time for GE Design’s first attempt at a tutorial for all those DIY Brides out there! I know most girls probably do not have access to software like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, so I thought it would be nice to have a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots set up for anyone who’s interested in take a stab at doing their own monogram on Power Point (version 2007 – steps are similar with older versions). Why Power Point, and not Word? In Power Point, it is easier to move objects around the page.

Now there are quite a few video tutorials online that are great, but for me, I like to see tutorials step by step so I can go at my own pace, without having to pause the videos or rewinding to see how things were done. Plus I like to read the instructions and screenshots (click on the photos below to enlarge in a new window). If you prefer videos, do a simple google search, and you’ll find a few online as well. I will try to link to online videos if I find some. But for those who like to read instructions, here goes! Any feedback is welcome!

1. Open a new document in Power Point

2. Create a BLANK slide (no objects on the slide) for a clean start (Under Home Tab, Go to Slides section, Click Layout, Select “Blank”)

3. Insert a Text Box (Under Home Tab, Go to Drawing section, Click Text Box Button)

a. Insert Text box in the middle of the slide

Tip: Center the text in the box (Go to Paragraph, Click Center button)

4. Type the initial of your LAST NAME or the GROOM’S LAST NAME

5. Select the text in the text box (double-click on letter, or hold down CTRL+A)

6. Change font size to 250 (or increase the size to fill 1/3 of the slide)

7. Change Font
        a. Select text
        b. Click on Font box in toolbar and bring down your font list
        c. Choose your favorite font for the main initial (I chose “Easy Street,” a font very similar to “Edwardian Script”)

d. While initial is still highlighted, change the color in Font Toolbar at the top of page

TIP: Make sure the text box has NO FILL color or NO LINE (apply this to all text boxes when creating a monogram to allow you to place your letters anywhere without obstructing views)

8. Add Bride’s Initial (First Name Initial)

        a. Follow steps 3-5 above

        b. Change font size to at least half of the size of the first letter

        c. Place the Bride’s Initial to the LEFT of the last name initial

9. Add Groom’s Initial

        a. Follow same steps as Bride Initial above OR Copy Bride’s Initial (Select Bride’s Initial on slide,    Right Click, Copy, Paste)

Tip: Copy and Pasting the Bride’s initial is a quicker step, since you have already formatted it to your liking, and it saves you a few steps

        b. Select Letter, and CHANGE LETTER to Groom’s Initial (First name Initial)

        c. Click and Drag Groom’s Initial to the RIGHT SIDE of Last Name Initial and place in any spot you please.

10. Add Wedding Date (optional)

        a. Follow Steps 3-7 above (except change the font to be much smaller than the initials. For example font size 20, and adjust from there)

        b. Date Format: You can choose to make the date numerical (10.10.2010, 10.10.10, 09.11.10), or spell out completely (October 10, 2010, october tenth two thousand ten). The format depends on how you want your overall monogram to look.

        c. Place your date in the monogram at the bottom or the top, wherever you feel it looks the best. My example will put it off-center at the bottom.

11. Saving your monogram to your computer

        a. Make sure no objects on your page are selected

        b. Go to the Editing Bar at the top and click on “Select All” (or with your mouse, select/highlight all objects on your page)

        c. All Objects should be selected, or have boxes surrounding each object individually at the same time

d. Right Click on all objects by moving your mouse/pointer anywhere in the selected objects. A dropdown menu should pop up as seen below

e. Select “Save as Picture”

f. Under File Format, Select “JPEG”

g. Name your Monogram

h. Click “Save”

12. Voila! You have your new monogram! It is like a Clipart for you to insert in any document (Word, Power Point, Excel, etc.)

13. Test your new file

         a. In the same document in Power Point, Click on “Insert” Tab

        b. Click on “Picture”

        c. Find your monogram file you just saved

        d. Select your file

        e. Your new monogram should be inserted into your document!

Tip: For easy access to your Monogram file, save a shortcut or copy of it on your desktop

Tip: After inserting your jpg monogram in your software, format it fit better, by cropping the jpg so that there is no blank space taking up room on your page. A future tutorial will be available on how to do this.

14. Video Tutorial: Here is a great online video; She did it in a different order, but this will give you a visual and audio to tie it together!