our love maps.

i've been on kind of a crafty kick lately. it started sometime after we finished and gave ourselves sufficient time to recover from the great paint-a-thon of 2011 where we painted the fireplace room, front room, dining room, and hallway in close succession. instead of jumping right back into MORE painting right away, we eased ourselves back into the home improvement game with littler things: spraypainting a light fixture, starting seeds for the garden, building a bench, sewing a quilt, working on curtains... projects of a much more manageable size that still make an impact and made us feel productive.

one of those crafty things that i havent yet shared is what was supposed to be a part of my valentines gift to the hubs. like any good crafty project these days, its origins were from Pinterest: the crack cocaine of internet timesucks.

my pinspiration showed entire state maps with little heart markers over the important cities. i thought this would be really fun to do for me and Mark, since we got engaged, got married, honeymooned, and live in all different states.

source: kayladanelle.blogspot.com

but when i went to the website provided to print out the state maps, they were not nearly as good looking as the ones she had used. so it was back to the pin board for me, where i found this pin, which was actually the original inspiration for my original inspiration. (ya follow?)



source: minimozblog.blogspot.com

i decided that i wanted to use real maps for my version, since i was having trouble finding any maps online that i liked (and my printer has a mind of its own), but i could not find my atlas anywhere and i only had one of the maps that i needed in my car. the good news is that most states will send you a free road map if you can find the right link on their website. (its usually somewhere labeled Hey You Tourists! or Visit UsPleasePleasePlease!) although let me just warn you that Maine takes FOR-EV-ER to send theirs. i got Maryland and Virginia maps in less than a week, and waited almost three for Maine.

i also decided to switch up what i considered to be our important love markers from "we met, we married, we live" to "we got engaged, we got married, we honeymooned" just because we might not always live in the same place, and i would like my art to be as long-lasting as possible. this is what i ended up with.

i didnt label the maps, because i liked the simplicity of just the hearts. but in case you are curious: we got engaged in Sebago Lake State Park, ME, we got married at Lauxmont Farms in Wrightsville, PA, and we honeymooned in Chincoteague, VA. i might end up making a little label for the back of the frame, so that when i am old and decrepit and crazy(-er than i am now) i will always be able to remember why the heck i ever thought that these cut up maps were worth framing.

anyone else out there actually doing any of the things they've pinned?

ps. i totally meant for this to be a real short, quick post that basically said 'hey look i made this!' and then all of a sudden there were a lot of words instead of just a few. whoops. can we still be friends?