Hey there everyone!
Hope all is well with you today. It’s a bit dreary here in the Carolina’s, but with browsing some blogs this morning, they shed some sunshine to start the day.
Seeing I have put the NEWBIE party on hold til the End of March {at least} I do indeed still want to get my newbies out there to you somehow, some way.
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I’m so excited to be here today. It was about a year ago that I first discovered the world of blogging.
This would also be a great anniversary gift for someone. I
was inspired by this project on Pinterest, but wanted to give it my own twist.
We Met, We Married, We Lived, We Love Map Art
Here are the supplies you will need. Supply links posted at the bottom.
A 6 x 6 artist’s canvas four-pack (Michael’s)
Paint color of your choice
Modge Podge
2 foam brushes
Maps
Martha Stewart Avery Metal Tag Holders (Staples)
Red ball top pins (not pictured)
The most expensive item here is the artist canvas 4 pack. Use a 50% off coupon at Michael’s and it will be about $7 for the pack. I had the Martha Stewart metal tag holders leftover from another project. If you don’t want to buy them, you could just use paper labels.
Paint your four canvas pieces the color of your choice. I used a sample of paint colors I had on hand. While the paint is drying, gather your maps and find the locations where you and your spouse met, married, lived, and now love. We have lived in Pennsylvania for all of those events, so I needed 3 different Pennsylvania maps. My father-in-law gave me two maps and I found the other in the garage. Make a heart template that is just slightly smaller than your canvas, making sure to leave enough room for your label at the bottom, and use it to trace the areas needed for the four heart locations and cut them out.
The next step is optional. My maps were fairly new and I like things to look old, so I tea died the paper hearts to make them not so white. Once they were dry, I used an iron (not too hot) on the reverse to remove the wrinkles from the paper hearts.
Then use your Modge Podge to apply each heart to each painted canvas. Apply two coats of Modge Podge, letting dry completely between coats. Now make your labels – We Met, We Married, We Lived, We Love. I used Word and printed them out from my printer. Center each metal tag or label under the corresponding heart.
Finally, I used red ball top sewing pins to mark the specific locations on each map heart. I used wire cutters to cut them down to about ¼ inch and just poked them into the canvas at the appropriate location.
I chose to hang my canvases in a square, but you could line them up horizontally or vertically too.
I hope you like this little project. I’m giving mine to my husband for Valentine’s Day and then have the perfect spot picked out to hang them! I would love to hear your thoughts!
You will be glad you did!
Grab your supplies today and get crafting tomorrow.
What a cute cute project!
What a great idea! Pinning!
Oh my goodness! These are sooo perfect! I think I’m going to have to make my own! Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Oh Doreen these love maps are super cute! I think this is a wonderful way to display the “love adventure” — Thank you so much for sharing this project!
Love this!! What a sweet Valentine’s Day gift!! Great job Doreen…you rocked that project!
super cute!
Love this project, great idea.
Cynthia
I have seen this done different ways on Pinterest and I think it is adorable. After 40 years of marriage….I could paper a whole wall!!
It is a really cute project, but I’m afraid, like Ceekay, I’d end up papering a whole wall, too. We’ve lived all over the country to include Alaska. That’s a lot of maps!!
Adorable project!
Thanks everyone – we’ve actually lived more places too, but I used the place where we purchased our first home as the “we lived”. It seemed like the best way to go since I didn’t want to make 7 “we lived” canvases – LOL! Hope you all give it a try!
Love those, going over to Doreens to pin ’em.
Bliss
What an awesome project! Very thoughtful and treasured memories ~
xo
Pat
That really is the cutest project. Love it!
Love it! Thanks for sharing this cute project with us Doreen!
I adore Doreen’s creation – and I want one!!!
Kelly
Wonderful project–I really love it.
I love these!! I am totally going to have to make my own set!! Although the we lived part- may need to be a collaged heart hmmmm. 🙂
I love this project. It’s a cute idea. It would be a neat bridal or wedding gift too. I was searching for map art diy and found this page. I got two 24×30 canvasses from Michaels and had planned to paint a modern art design using painters tape (I’m not an artist!) but then I thought why not use a map to display in the house? Since we are newish to the area, and just decided to make it a permanent move (after moving 10 times in 12 years all across the US and Europe), I thought putting a map of Seattle in our new home would help us to celebrate our decision!