Hello everyone! I hope you’ve been having a good week thus far. Hubby and I have been buussssy over here at Sooter Cottage! Monday was Memorial Day and we spent almost all of our waking hours out in the yard busting away at the weeds, a killer bush, and the 2″ thick layer of pine needles that covered all the flowerbeds. Yeesh. It’s a work in progress, but a post will be coming soon of our new and improved yard! The rest of the week has been spent going to work and going to small groups. Nate and I both lead small group Bible studies for college students and we also go to a young marrieds group that is put on by our church. We love all that we are doing, but when you add it all up, we get about 1 free night a week to just hang and be together! It’ll be nice when summer comes around and we get a couple more nights freed up, for sure.
Anyway, on to my post for today – my DIY map craft! Whenever I get a National Geographic magazine I always save the free maps that come with them – you never know when they will come in handy and are great for crafting! Then my mother-in-law gave me an old brown wood frame that she didn’t really like and I knew that I had to combine the two: my map and a neglected frame. I’m going to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures, but it’s a pretty easy craft and I’ll give detailed instructions, scout’s honor!
Alright, here we go.
I started off by taping off the inner matting on the frame because it was very expertly nailed in by “CJ at Michael’s Craft Store,” according to the sticker on the back. I didn’t want to risk damaging the frame or matting by taking a hammer to it, so a bit of blue painters tape did the trick to protect it! I used some gold spray paint to give the frame a trendy and updated look. A couple of light coats was all it needed!
Next I took a piece of cardboard and cut it to the size of the opening in the frame so my map would have something sturdy behind it. And then? I wrapped that map onto the cardboard like it was a present, yo. Smooth out the map and carefully fold and tape down the edges to the cardboard, ensuring there is no puckering in the front. My map features France and a bit of the UK, which I absolutely love! I’m 1/8 Scottish and it’s my dream to take a tour of Europe. I’m convinced I was British in another life or something.
Lastly I needed my quote. There is a great quote from Jim Elliot: “Wherever you are, be all there.” I thought this was the perfect quote to go along with my map. We are all rushing around in life and thinking of the next thing on our to-do lists, but in reality, if we take time to be in the present moment we will be a whole lot happier and satisfied with life. Trust me! I have a reminder on my phone, too; “Be Present.” Whenever I see either of these phrases, I’m reminded to take a step back, put my to-do list on the back burner and truly enjoy the moment as it is happening.
I picked out a cool font, called ‘Wolf in the City’ (which is an awesome name for a font, BTW) and sized it up on my computer to around 375pt, I believe. Make sure your page orientation is in landscape, not portrait! Now for printing. You think this would be easy, but luck was not on my side today because my printer ran out of ink halfway through the job. I was left with streaky, partially visible letters. Gah! So I grabbed my trusty sharpie and painstakingly outlined and colored in all my letters. I pray you do not have to add this extra step, folks.
After everything is printed (or sharpied…) I simply cut out the words with some scissors and used a craft knife for the little holes in the middle of the e’s and a’s. Then just lay down your wording and move it around till it looks right, then glue! I just used a glue stick, though you could easily use any sort of spray adhesive or rubber cement.
And there you have it! A beautiful map craft turned framed quote. I love how it turned out!
Go check it out in it’s new home in my travel themed gallery wall! I love how the gold frame, script font quote and the map give off this vintage travel vibe. Ahh! In love.
Doing this map craft had me dreaming about hopping a plane and seeing the world. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I LOVE this Erica! SO creative! What a beautiful quote too … I try to remind myself too to slow down and live in the moment, but unfortunately those moments are few and far between. This well be a perfect reminder for you! FABULOUS job!!!
Thank you so much, Kristi! I definitely need the reminder, too. Life has gotten far too busy, so sometimes it’s good to simplify and slow down a little bit! Here’s hoping we get to live in the moment more often! 😉
I love it Erica! If I could travel anywhere? I can’t just choose one. I’ve got a bit ‘o the Wanderlust (and no money to match it, ha!) 😉
Haha, yeah that’s such a hard choice for me, too! I just want to go everywhere and see everything. I also have the problem of no money to match my travel desires… ahh, maybe someday!
This is awesome!! Great quote as well and I’m looking forward to seeing your gallery wall!
Thanks, Bre! I love how it turned out – eager to share the gallery wall once I get a few more projects for it completed! 🙂
Love the project & the sentiment. A great reminder to be present! I once found a collection of old National Geographic magazines at a yard sale. It was so fun to look through all those back issues and the old maps!
Thank you so much! I love old National Geographics, too – they always remind me of my grandfather. Such cool articles and the photos are always AMAZING!
Suuuuper cute!!!! I love maps!
Thanks so much, Rhonda! I absolutely adore maps, too. I’ve been bitten by the travel bug!
Clever idea I love using maps and hand-cutting font was a speciality of mine 🙂
That’s so awesome! I’d love to see some of your hand-cut fonts! It’s a quite a bit of work, but then end result always looks so good 🙂
This is such a cute idea! Love it!
Thanks, Rachel! It was really fun to make 🙂
I would go back to Argentina. I went 6 years ago with my husband pre-kids and it was amazing!! Can’t wait to go back one day 🙂
That sounds amazing! My husband spent a couple of months studying abroad there in college and he loved it. I’ll have to go some day!
This is so pretty, and a good reminder to be mindful. Hello from Let’s Get Real.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I really think it’s a great reminder too – I’m going to put it somewhere where I can see it daily! Cheers!
Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be featuring your FABULOUS art with my favorites from the week Friday morning! xo
Aww! Thanks so much, Kristi!!! You have no idea how much that means to me 🙂 You rock!!
I loved your Tip Me Tuesday link . {thanks girl!}
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