Making Artwork: My Travel Map Craft Project

My husband and I love a good adventure. Especially one that takes us away to a new town that we get to explore together, even if it's just for a day or two.

A couple months ago, we got a big fold-out map in the mail, which my husband promptly pinned to our wall as a way to track all the cities we've been to as a married couple. As any good wife would be, I was thrilled with the sentimental idea.

The only problem? The freebie map was a bit of an eyesore (scroll down to the "before" photo). So I decided to do what any good crafter would: Dream up with a more aesthetic solution using my own two hands and a whole lotta resourcefulness. (You can also check out the bird-inspired artwork I created for our living room, too.)

Rummaging through my recent reorganizing spree, I came up with enough supplies that the only thing I had to purchase for the craft was a roll of corkboard, which you can order for cheap here. Everything else was pulled from my crafting supplies, reinvented from old, thrifted artwork or even from my make-up cabinet, as you'll see...

A Tutorial: How I Created My Travel Corkboard Map
I've loved owls for awhile (what 20-something girl hasn't?), but I don't foresee incorporating this creepy owl painting anytime in the future. I'd put it in a pile to donate to the thrift store (of course, I'd originally purchased it at a thrift store), but I figured it could be useful in this project of mine, and at least if I ruined it, it wasn't a loss.

I taped the edges and then, using a template I found online, sketched the U.S. template onto the picture. I picked a dusty robin's egg blue I already had in my craft closet and painted the background, forgoing the area in the middle that would soon be covered. (And as for my paintbrush, I ended up using some old make-up brushes that I was going to throw out. I just washed them and went to work!)

Using the same template from tracing the map onto the artwork, I cut a map from a roll of corkboard. Then, I glued it onto the painting (which I then held into place with some of my empty glass jar collection, and a bottle of my favorite Aleene's craft glue).

Meanwhile, I printed out some tags for marking the cities we've been to and some banners (inspired by my blog design!) to title the piece.

Once everything was dried, I used some straight pins (which I snipped to size with wire cutters) to keep the markers and title in place.

Alongside the travel map, I hung another collection of travel-related prints I already had on-hand that harken back to other cities meaningful to our relationship (Cincinnati, where we met, and Grand Rapids, where we lived our first month as a married couple). I used another piece of thrifted artwork from my stash to frame them, and voila...

P.S. If you are new to this blog, thank you so much for stopping by! You can feel free to browse all my other posts about my journey toward a lifestyle of simplicity and DIY, as well as some of the ways my husband and I are learning to save money. I also write about my faith, my marriage and everything in between, which you can explore in the archives.

Plus, if you like this craft tutorial, click here to pin it to Pinterest. You can also follow me on Pinterest here.

Related Posts

I'm Always Wondering, "Can I Make That Myself?"

Why I Make My Own Shampoo

Search Through All My Craft-Related Posts