Some recent crafts...

For a long time now, I have been wanting to make a cute map so that Jeff and I can pin all of the places that we travel together.  And this week, I finally got around to it.

I printed a big map of the Good Ol' U.S. of A. from this website that I found on Pinterest: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/megamaps.htm.  You can print maps off as big as 8 pages x 8 pages.  I chose to print mine off at 3 pages x 3 pages.

I cut out the map and taped the pieces together to make a stencil.  I used a roll of cork from Hobby Lobby that cost me $8.99 thanks to their 40% off coupon.  I traced the map and cut out the USA.  The cork had been rolled up, so I left some coasters and things on the map overnight to flatten the edges out.

I currently have a collection of large frames, mirrors, etc. that I have picked up at thrift stores and yard sales along the way.  But, my map was too large to fit in any frame that I had.  But I did have an old corkboard from Wal-Mart or something that was the perfect size.  You know, one that looks all plain like this:

I also had some extra burlap from my wedding laying around.  So, I recovered the corkboard with the burlap, just stapling the burlap to the back of the board.  I used spray adhesive to glue on the map and added a couple banners and ended up with this:

Hopefully we'll get to add a few more locations soon!

I also had an ugly, gold, scratched-up oval frame laying around and decided to finally do something with it too.  I spray painted it white and added some Valspar antiquing glaze.  I also used burlap for the background of this project too.  I got a wooden "H" at a local Home Accents store and ...

I am so excited that the house is finally coming together, and I am finally doing something with all of these random frames that I have bought over the past year.