Map It Out

So what does a girl do when she's off of work for eleven days straight?!?!?!

Well have you notice the abundance of blog posts lately??!?!?  HA!  That's one thing I've been trying to keep up with during my time off.

There was also allot of lounging around, blog stalking, shopping, Internet surfing, and project making!!

Yes I actually attempted some of my projects that have been on my to do list for like ever!!!!

Here is one thing that I completed:

Its a map to mark all the places 2hotty and I have traveled together so far!! 

I know its not perfect...........but I like it!!  I got the inspiration from this blog (click --> HERE) and pretty much followed her directions to a tee!!! 

It was actually more time consuming then I thought it was going to be!!! It's one of those projects that you save for a rainy day.......or in my case a hot sweltering 100 degree day.......yup I was so content sitting at home with the AC up high getting my craft on!!

Here is the low down: ( I purchased all materials at my local Walmart, besides the atlas I used to cut out the states from)

I purchased a 16x20 canvas (2pack for about 10 dollas) and painted it using a metallic white paint (FolkArt #659 in metallic pearl white - $0.97) to give the canvas more of a pretty sheen!!

Then I outlined a border with painters tape just like this (didn't really measure.......just eyeballed it):

made sure the map would fit correctly: (map torn out of old road atlas that I purchased at St. Vinnies for $1.00)

but I would highly recommend buying one of these if your willing to make one of your own:

find it HERE

Trust me it will make your life so much easier and it will be less time consuming!! I looked at a few stores to see if I could find something similar but had no luck whatsoever........so a road atlas had to make do!!

Then I painted the whole canvas using FolkArt #2588 Metallic Ice Blue paint mixed with some Pearl White I used above:

and let dry until I was ready to glue on the states!!


Here is where I sat on the floor for like 2 hours cutting out all of the states from the atlas and then tracing them onto some scrapbook paper (preferably in the color scheme of the room you would like to hang the canvas in)..............

............and then cutting them out once again.........see why you should get that puzzle......it will eliminate some tedious steps!!!

NOTE: make sure to keep the states in order while you work...........that way you could keep track at how the pieces should fit together!!

I then used modgepodge.......

........to apply all of the states onto the canvas (I started from the center such as Texas) and then added another layer of modgepodge over all the pieces once every state was applied to the canvas!!

I painted the wooden letters a pearl white as well:

.......and glued them on using tacky glue.  I used this same glue to apply the small white buttons to mark which states we've been too!!

See, easy peasy............a little time consuming......but easy!!! Oh and it probably cost me about $10 total (maybe even less if you have most of the materials already!)!  Not to shabby!!

Here is what it looks like again (save you from scrolling up and down!):

Looking at the map is kinda bothering me though!! Separately 2hotty and I have traveled all over the U.S. but together we've only been to 5 states!!

You see I'm a list maker and one thing I love to do is cross things off.......it makes my day (I know I'm such a dork.....or dorkess as 2hotty likes to call me!!)!! So every time I look at this map it will drive me bonkers until more buttons get glued on!!

We have allot of trip planning to do!! haha!! 

So what do you think of my traveling map (I want to have a gallery wall someday where I plan to hang this canvas along with framed pictures of our vacations)?!?!  For 10 points who can guess which state is out of whack......haha (oh well I told you it wasn't perfect!!)?!?!  Any of you been to every single U.S. state (I would love to do this eventually with 2hotty!)?  Perhaps you have one of the more fancier pin maps (I've always wanted one of those!!!)?? I would love to hear your thoughts.....Leave a comment below.

xoxo Joanna D.