DIY: Wall Travel Map

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you felt like you were running around like a toddler who was just given a double shot of espresso?

That has been our past month yet no children were really given espresso. (Thank you Lord.)

Ethan turns one next month and as I begin to plan the AMAZING, huge, Ridiculious, FUN party... I started to panic about all of the UNFINISHED projects lying around my house.

It was like someone had given me Crafter Speed.

I completed 9 Projects the past two weeks and went home to NOLA for a weekend.

Needless to say... I'm pretty exhausted. But my exhaustion should not rob YOU from something awesome you could do!!

Here is a eTravel Map Bryan and I made for our home after seeing one in our friend Claire's home. A Travel Map is a beautiful map you can put up in your home to document all of your travels.

Claire's was stunning... her husband had hand made the frame from reclaimed barn wood and... sigh...

I did the easier yet still looks pretty darn good version. ;)

I am a HUGE Goodwill shopper as I've stated before when I made a
Gallery Wall from Good Will frames. 

I go there for picture frames and other crazy knick knacks I can turn into treasure.
On one such trip I happened to find a GIANT picture frame that was about 30x40.

It was just an empty frame and I had no idea what to do with it but I knew for $7 I needed it.

It sat around my house a few weeks until this project came to mind and I realized it was perfect for it.

Originally it was a nice bronze. But I wanted it to pop against my gray walls. 

So I started by spray painting the entire frame red. 

After letting it dry I bought a bottle of black antique glaze. 

You just dip a small paint brush into it (I used the cap) and brush in on. You can make it dark or light but it pulls out the woodwork.  I seriously used like a dime size amount to antique the whole project. I'm going to have that bottle for like 10 years. Awesome. 

My friend Claire's map was just the United States but since Bryan and I have traveled out of the country a few times we wanted a globe map. I found one on Ebay for around $6.99. I searched using the dimensions of my frame since maps come in pretty much every shape and size. So no matter what frame you get you can do this project in any size you'd like. 

Now, since all I had was a frame and no backing I went to Michael's and bought a white foam board and cut it to the dimensions I needed: 

Than I spray glued my map to the foam board.

And put it all together! 

I personalized our map with a little print out I made:

 "Where our Adventures have taken us." 

I purchased some Map Pins (which are shorter pins) at Hobby Lobby.

I choose a color for each of us. 

Blue for Bryan 

Green for Me

Red for where he and I have gone together and White for the travels we've taken as a family. 

I used my distress ink stamp to make it look aged on the edges and than glued it to a brown piece of card stock than stuck it on the map! 

Bryan and I had so much fun revisiting all of our travels and than placing them on our map!

We've gotten around! 

Hope this inspires you to make your own eTravel Map to document all of your adventures!

God Bless and Much Love,

 Jessica