Newlywed Map

To commemorate our one year anniversary, also known as the paper anniversary, Mr. L and I decided to do a project I'd seen a few times, mainly here, here, and here.  It's called a Newlywed Map, and the basic premise is that you glue a map onto foam core board and use map tacks to indicate where you've traveled in the world.

Mr. L and I both really liked this idea, especially considering how much traveling he's already done and how much we're going to try to do in the future (Scotland, you're totally next!).  So after gathering our supplies we started on our project!

All three posts explain how to create one of your own pretty well, but I will add that in Heather Drive's post, she comments that she couldn't find a 36"x24" piece of foam core board (or a piece bigger that she could cut down), so she purchased a foam core trifold display version, something I had to end up doing as well.  With that in mind, I'll summarize the list of supplies and the directions below.

Supplies

• 36"x24" world wall map (we purchased this one)
• 36"x24" foam core trifold display board
• Spray adhesive
• 1 box assorted colored map tacks (specifically these -- red for places I've visited, black for places Mr. L has visited, and white for places we've visited together)
• 36"x24" black frame (technically this is optional, but I absolutely wanted to display this on a wall in our home)

Directions (taken from Jordan's Project Wedding post)

1)  "Following the directions on the can, spray half of the foam core with spray adhesive."  (Don't forget to cut your foam core board to size if you purchased a trifold board!)

2)  "Wait 15 seconds or so for the adhesive to set then working quickly start on one corner of the map and smooth it out onto the sticky foam core. Repeat with the other half of the map."  (Be careful not to over-apply the adhesive -- it will leave unsightly air bubbles and bumps from getting the map paper too wet.)

3)  [Inserted by me since Jordan didn't use a frame for her map]  Place your dried map into a frame of your choice, and please, don't take after me and purchase a poster frame thinking that of course the map will fit inside of it -- trust me, the frame won't be deep enough.  (I'm counting on Mr. L to rig it up with some duct tape and apply hardware so everything stays together and stays on the wall.)

4)  "Use different colored pins and flags from MapCenter.com to mark trips you've been on together  -- and trips you're dreaming of taking."  (Obviously, you can get map tacks from anywhere, as well as mark trips you've been on separately like we did! )

Overall, we probably spent around the same amount of money Heather did -- around $60 to $65.  I think it's a project well worth it since every time we look over at it, we'll be reminded of the beautiful and interesting places we've been blessed to see, both as a couple and separately.

It will also be such a wonderful family keepsake, especially when we start having kids and begin teaching them about the places we've seen (and will see!) as a family.