I Want to Travel With You

The story I’m about to tell goes back. Back about 2 years.

Back when I was in a beautiful dress. Donning pearls and a ruby that belonged to my Great Grandmother.

I had read a letter from my betrothed. It said so many sweet and loving things. Mentioned things we were dreaming of doing and places we would like to go-with one another by our sides.

I had shared with Jerrel I would like to visit all 50 states. He took that nugget of information, tucked it away, and saved it for our wedding day.

I opened a beautiful map of this United States and green little pins. He thought framing could be a project we work on together. We could pick out the frame and place to hang this piece of art in our new home. This is quite possibly the most thoughtful gift he has gotten me. It always makes my heart sing when I think of the words written in that letter and the thought that went into this gift.

But since that wedding day I’m sad to say that map sat rolled up, in a closet, until recently. I wasn’t sure how to go about making it usable for the pins. I wasn’t sure what kind of frame I wanted. I just wanted to do it right. But then I realized we had a frame the map would fit in. I had been using it for another piece of art that needed changed out. So then I had to figure out what to do with the map. It was time.

I bought a roll of cork. I got my Mod Podge out. I took a deep breath and I dove in. I’m not sure why but lining the map edge and cork edge up was the hardest part. I saw some similar tutorials that suggested spray adhesive was a better choice than Mod Podge. But Mod Podge has always been faithful to me. It’s never done me wrong. So I trusted it and went along. I spread about 3 inches at a time. Carefully rolling my map out as I went along. Using my hands and the edge of a credit card to work out bubbles.

Then using books to weight it down. Finally when I came to the end I took a deep breath. I did a thin coat of Mod Podge over the entire map then and called it done….for now.

It wasn’t perfect. It had some “character.” But it looked good. It looked a heckofalot better than it did rolled up in a closet.

Later I came back with another scary task. Trimming. I had my frame measurements. I didn’t want to loose my latitude and longitude so I trimmed just a hair off each side and tried my frame, if it wasn’t right I trimmed a little more until finally it fit-like a glove.

I used a large piece of cardboard as a backing. Because of how my map fit I only needed the cardboard for stability-since my cork was thin and for the pins to stick into-again because my cork was thin. I cut the cardboard the size of the frame opening as well and hot glued my cardboard to the back of the map.

Tips From Experience
-Use thicker cork
-Find a Brush that doesn’t shed
-Spray Adhesive- if that’s more comfortable for you.

I hunted around the house and decided our bedroom was the best place for this map.

It looks fabulous. Jerrel was so thrilled with having it up and ready to enjoy. We took a couple minutes to place some all important pins.

Please excuse the blur in the middle of this picture. Someone little got my camera and placed a few scratches….

Our criterion for pin placement is based on “experience” We have to feel as though we have experienced the place we visited, learned something, did something unique. We have to have a general feel for the area.

Example: Just because we drove through Chicago, doesn’t mean it gets a pin. We also slept in De Moins on our way home in a Holiday Inn. It doesn’t get a pin. I know nothing of De Moins from our stay.

Our pinning has been slow since we were hitched. But now the map is up. The baby can travel and we are getting brave. Our latest travel bug is mostly in NE-we want to get to know our state!

Look our world! Here’s to buying experiences-not things.

Well, maybe a couple things. Girls’ gotta get some souvenirs, right?

Blessings!