Map Art - part 1

We hung a couple of new pieces of "art" downstairs in the guest bedroom this weekend, finally.

I'm only sharing this one piece today because the other one is similar to one that I'm giving to a couple of family members this Christmas and I'd like for it to be a surprise!

 

Please excuse all my iPhone photos of this artwork!

 

I call this piece "our marriage in states" (and of course "countries") and I really love it.

It's very personal, which, along with family photographs,  is the best kind of art I think!

 

 

 

 

It's a very simple project, and I owe the inspiration to Kayla Danelle.  Check out her step-by-step instructions.  Here are 3 versions of the project that she shares.

 

 

 

My instructions are slightly different than Kayla's. 

 

Instead of a floating frame - which I couldn't find large enough for my 5 states/countries, I went with a normal frame from Hobby Lobby. 

 

I flipped the backing over and used the black side, touching up a couple of small nicks with a Sharpie.

 

 

 

I used a children's atlas similar to this one and carefully cut out the states.

 

 

 

Kayla notes that you can Google "state reference map" for your state and print it out at home.

I just found that I couldn't find states all the same size, so I went with an Atlas instead.

 

 

 

 

Then I put a heart sticker where we lived in each location and taped them to the backing of the frame, and voila!

 

 

 

For those who know us, no words necessary.  The picture tells the story.

 

Thanks Kayla Danelle for the clever idea!