Monday, June 18, 2012

Map Project #2: Pictorial Travel History

My daughter informed me I have left my readers hanging. Apparently I promised to post the second map project I made for her. Sorry for the lapse. I got so caught up in my aqua painting madness that I didn't follow through on that very quickly. (I know, I also still need to do that monkey's fist tutorial I promised. I'd better just keep promises to a minimum in the future, hadn't I? In my defense, my promise on the maps was "sometime soon". It has only been slightly over a week. That falls within "sometime soon", right?


In order to keep from getting too far behind, here comes Map Project #2 - Highlighting the Good Ole US of A and Cally's travels to places in the Eastern half of the country, (as of the time when I made this.)


Since I had two big laminated maps, one of the USA and one of the World, I had to choose one to cut into squares, as we saw in the first project, the Map Mosaic, and one that would highlight Cally's travels using images from various trips.


Cally had traveled some parts of Europe at the time, but because the countries on the World Map are so small, that map didn't work for the kind of picture project I wanted to do, so I chose the map of the USA. Plus, I had the photos from her USA travels at my disposal, and since this was a surprise, I needed to gather the pictures in stealth mode as much as possible.


If you want to create something like this, you'll need:


A canvas (they can be pricey so check for sales and store coupons. I got mine for 50% off!)
A map (I used a laminated one)
Spray adhesive
Resized images from your travels (preferably printed at a photo center.)


None of the canvases I found were the same size as the the map, but it so happened that the bordered area of this map fit pretty well within one of the available sizes, so all that was needed was to cut the map along those lines. The excess would have detracted anyway.


When working with spray adhesive, be prepared to align the map carefully and work out any bubbles that form. Some stretching may occur and you will likely need to trim edges.


The time consuming part of this project is the effort you'll spend scouring your photo albums and computer files for full-length images. Full-length is preferable, as far as I was concerned because they appear more grounded, instead of looking like heads and partial bodies floating aimlessly across the country or the water. I like to get in close when I take pictures, so it wasn't easy for me to come up with distant images that included whole bodies. I did the best I could with as many as I could.
I copied and resized the photos I'd chosen into a document and printed a draft of the page on my own printer just to check the sizes before having the final pages printed from a cd at my favorite camera shop. I went ahead and included some extra images. They were not all needed, but since I was printing them at a photo center, I wanted to have everything possible on hand when I started cutting and working the images onto the map. That way I wouldn't have to go back again in the middle of the project if I changed my mind about any of them. After cutting the printed images out, they were laid out in the appropriate cities on the map to see how they'd fit.


Luckily for me, tedious cutting tasks are right up my alley, especially when it comes to pictures. I found it fun to reminisce as I worked with the photos, and it was satisfying...especially when the project came together.


Ta da! Little people everywhere!


With some double-sided tape cut into eensy weensy pieces, the images were secured onto the map. Tweezers came in very handy.

After all that, do you think I ever got a good shot of the map on a wall anywhere? Here it is (in part) adorning another of Cally's living spaces. The shot of it on the loft wall had glare across it, so I didn't want to use that one. I was not intending this as any sort of blog post at the time, hence I didn't think to take appropriate images. I hope you get the idea.

Remember that ink jet images generally fade, and often quite quickly, especially in rooms with a lot of light. So for this type of project, it really does work best to take your images on a cd in jpg format (or another picture format) to a photo center for printing.

There you have it. We can also add images to our map as time goes on and as Cally continues to travel and keep a growing pictorial history. Sweet!

I hope you go on now and have some fun with maps yourself! 

I'll be sharing this project at:






Tuesday To Do Party

47 comments:

  1. This is brilliant. Thank goodness your daughter reminded you to show it off. I love everything about it especially the personal touches with the pictures. Absolutely brilliant!

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  2. You are so creative, how did you ever think of this? I luv it! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Liz a project like this makes me want to Add a room or clear a wall to have a dedicated space just for this.."idea" I have no world travls to document but wouldnt the same thing work for a photo journal of "States where we lived" -our family's record of moves /usa..mmm LORDY ME..lol will I live long enough to get such a project DONE..rofl at me! [that's 1 for each of 4 kids and 1 for self]
    "All in fun"
    Jonell

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  4. this is TOO cool and so creative! I'm pinning it, I've got to try something like this someday (first step is finding a giant map! lol)

    Mandy
    www.smallfineprint.com

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  5. I'd heard rumors of this project but never saw the final result. I'd say it is well worth the time and effort. Makes me want to go on a world tour! Meanwhile, your daughter appears to need to stretch her travels out to my western half of the US!

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    1. I take it from your comment that you are alive and basically well...albeit probably quite tired. Good to know. So sorry you never saw the map...but now you have. Cally loves to travel...I'm sure she'll find her way out West eventually. Thanks for coming by for a blog visit on top of the real visit. You are missed already!
      Liz

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  6. How "Clever"! I love maps, and this is a BRILLIANT display of fun!
    Have a great week,
    Donna

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  7. The west coast looks so lonely! Well, any lover of aqua is a friend of mine! Feel free to pop me in there!:)

    Amazing project! You don't mess around...Plus? I loooove maps!

    Thanks for visiting me today!

    -Courtney!

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  8. This is a really cute idea! I love how it turned out and like that you can always add to it.

    Danielle

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  9. Oh my that is one adorable friends and family map! Love it.

    Thanks for stopping by earlier via Sugar Bee :-)

    Maggy

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  10. Such a creative idea! Loved it so much I shared it on my facebook page today. Thanks for linking to Cowgirl Up this week!
    :) Samantha @ Crafty Texas Girls
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafty-Texas-Girls/140299076008437?ref=tn_tnmn

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  11. Very quirky and fun! Looking forward to your next project...

    ciao!

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  12. Thank you for stopping by The Decorating Files. I thought I'd return the favor and visit you. I'm glad I did! This is such a cute idea!

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  13. What a fun way to remember your vacations. Now you need to make a point of taking full-body photos when you go on trips.

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  14. That is the most fabulous idea ever! Cally is one lucky gal - and the fact that you surprised her - world's best mom award!!

    I am pinning this because I have 2 old school pull down maps that I need to hang in my girls room and I was wondering how to give them some pizazz-this is the answer!
    Kelly

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  15. Hi Liz - thanks for linking up this amazing project on our All Star Block Party!!! What a terrific souvenir of your daughter's travels!!

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  16. What a great idea! Love it. Thanks for linking up to the All Star Block Party.

    Holly

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  17. Liz, What a fun project! I think I'll put this one on my to do list for our game room. Thanks for sharing! ~Kristie

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  18. what a great idea, and it will bring back memories everytime you look at it,
    lauren

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  19. What a clever idea! I can definitely see how this task could be considered tedious. I did a map project recently but I just stuck pins in mine. LOL!

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  20. What a great project! Your daughter is a lucky girl!

    Mary

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  21. Great project! I love maps! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm so glad you enjoyed seeing the photos of Lake Erie!
    Cindy

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  22. great project, liz! using the people pics is so clever:)

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  23. This is such a great idea. I really need to do this for my kids (and e)...such a great way to chronicle your journeys!

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  24. What a darling idea. My daughter would love this!!

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  25. This (and your other map project) is so much fun! My daughter recently went on a mission trip to Jamaica; I'd love to do something like this for her.

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  26. Such a cute and cleaver idea! I love it!
    New follower from the Blog Hop
    -Buffi
    My Wonderfully Dysfunctional Blog

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  27. That is so cute! Thank you for joining me at Home Sweet Home!
    Sherry

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  28. What a fun idea! It's a great way to remember all of her fun adventures. Won't it be so cool when she's little people everywhere?
    Thanks for sharing this with Share Your Cjup.
    Hugs,
    Jann

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  29. What a clever idea! And I would say one week definitely falls into the time frame of "sometime soon." :)

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  30. This is such a great idea.. I'm pinning this... Just loveit!!!

    Thanks for sharing at the ALL STARS BLOCK PARTY
    Carri
    simplydonewright.blogspot.com

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  31. Wow! I love this idea. It looks like so much fun! Makes me want to travel. We usually go to the same places. I am sure she will love it.

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  32. Great idea--well worth the effort. Thanks for linking up to Share the Love Wednesday!
    Mary

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  33. Great idea! Love how you can see all the wonderful places you've traveled. Thanks for sharing on Simple & Sweet Fridays.

    Jody

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  34. What a fun project! I love it. I need to make one of these for our family! Thanks for sharing!

    blessings,
    karianne

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  35. What a brilliant idea! I am pinning this to my "For the Home" board on Pinterest! I love this! I've just shared it on Google+ too!

    Thanks so much for sharing this post at my Say G'day linky party! This week's linky is now live and I am very excited to invite you to a Social media linky party that I will be hosting on July 14. The details are all at the blog if you would like to join in.

    I've noticed your lovely smiling face on many blogs as I've been visiting all the folks who have linked up. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to leave comments and visit people-you are such a sweet bloggy friend!

    Best wishes for a wonderful weekend,
    Natasha in Oz

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  36. This is a great idea!!! I want to do this with my little gal and the trips we take as she grows up. Not only is it just plain awesome, but it is a great conversation piece too!

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  37. Hello Liz !
    I just stopped by your blog and found this great idea of yours!!! I just love it! Both my children have been travelling all over Europe since they were very young and I am sure they would be thrilled to see a similar map in my house on one of their week-end visits. I am sure it is a very time consuming project and I need to plan it carefully !!
    I like your blog very much! You are a very creative person, and I will try to see all your posts little by little. I would be happy if you also visited me. My posts are mainly in greek and I am afraid the automatic translation is awful, but some of my earlier posts are written in both english and french (apart from greek).
    We just go through a heat wave in Greece, it is terribly hot, but I believe you have a very similar climate in Florida. How is your summer ?
    Hope to be hearing back from you.
    All the best !
    Marie-Anne

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  38. I traveled last month and used the MAP app to get directions.. it was of big help for me at that time in place where i was a foreign...

    Map of Bryce Canyon

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