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:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things

Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios

The Sunday Stop @ Joy 2 Journey

Say G'day Saturday @ Natasha In Oz

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Whatcha Got Weekend @ Lolly Jane

Saturday Showcase @ Bowdabra

Get Schooled Saturday @ Too Much Time

Functional Friday @ The Not So Functional Housewife

Tickled Pink @ 504 Main

Inspiration Friday @ At the Picket Fence

Hodgepodge Friday @ It's a Hodgepodge Life

Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home

Show & Tell Friday @ Romantic Home

Fridays Unfolded @ Stuff & Nonsense

Simple & Sweet Fridays @ Rooted in Thyme

Made You Look @ Made in a Day

What's It Wednesday @ Ivy & Elephants

Very Merry Vintage Style

Time Travel Thursday @ The Brambleberry Cottage

Treasure Hunt Thursday @ FMFPTY

Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Open House Thursday @ No Minimalist Here

Block Party @ New House, New Home, New Life

Primp Your Stuff @ Primp

Swing Into Spring @ DIY By Design

Your Whims Wednesday @ My Girlish Whims

Wow us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Share It @ Winthrop Chronicles

Take a Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts

Tuesday To Do @ Blackberry Vine

Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Open Call Tuesday @ Salt Tree

Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch

Craft-O-Maniac Monday @ Craft-O-Maniac

The Cure for the Common Monday @ Lines Across

Mop it up Mondays @ I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Tips & Tricks Tuesday @ Stringtown Home

Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home

Made by You Monday @ Skip to My Lou