The Family that crafts together, stays together!

When my husband left town for work for a few days, Ryan, Cannon and I had big plans for a surprise for him.  They wanted to help me redo the master bedroom, beach style.  I, as always, was a little over ambitious with my plans.  Some of the planned projects were painting two pieces of furniture, make some pictures and frames, sew some pillows, cover the closet with fabric...to name a few.  Why, oh why, do I do this to myself? 

Well, we had good intentions.  The baby had other plans.  He was teething and REALLY wanted to be held, thus derailing our agenda.  We did get some shopping done for the items needed to decorate the space.  One morning, we went to Goodwill, another thrift store, a fabric store, Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart!  My eight year old said it was the worst day of his life to have to go to all of those places.  He was being slightly dramatic...it wasn't too bad, in fact, we had a good time. 

In addition to shopping, we got a couple of projects for the room done.  One includes the map frame. 

Also, we covered some canvas prints in burlap and glued shells on them.  I'll post those soon, they turned out really neat. 

What is the status of the room?  Same as before my husband left for his trip.  Now, I am back on contract at my school and football season has started for my husband and the room still isn't done!  Darn!  I'm hoping one weekend, baby willing, I will get motivated (and some energy) to make the room inviting with a beachy touch.  Wish me luck! 

For the frame, we took a $4 frame from Hobby Lobby (found on the 90% off aisle...it was originally $39!) and decoupaged a leftover map from our South Carolina beach trip.  I love the colors in maps, the soft blues, greens, and pinks. 

What a deal, $4!

I didn't love the design of the frame.  It was a little too busy for my liking. 

In fact, this is how it made me feel when I looked at it for too long!

This is how it made Parker feel!

 The word FAMILY was fitting.  It was a family project, minus dad.  The older boys helped me glue the map in place.  Ryan served as a great babysitter, entertaining Parker in the walker! 

We started to chunk the map we used to navigate in South Carolina, but I am such a pack rat, I could not throw it away.  I thought for a couple of days before I came up with this idea.  I hated the picture of the people in the upper right hand corner and with the size of the frame, this part of the map was needed.  So, I decided to cut legend off of an unused part of the map to glue on top of them. 

Covering the people w/the legend worked perfectly! 

One other problem we ran into was you could see the "Family" through the map.  So I took the map off, cleaned the glue off the frame, ran outside and spray painted the frame white as fast as I could before the glue dried on the map!  Phew, that was close!

 

So, basically follow these steps to create a map covered frame:  1.  spray your frame if there is any writing or design underneath, 2.  get your favorite map and center it to fit the frame, 3.  cut a hole in the center to accommodate the glass of the frame, 4.  brush glue on the frame with sponge brushes (I used Elmer's, but you can use any brand or Modge Podge), 5.  smooth map on top of the frame, wrapping it around the edges of the frame to the back, 6.  take care to rub the map into any groves or edges of the frame, 7.  brush glue on top of the map, smoothing out any wrinkles as you go (this part gets messy, but it is a favorite of the kids), 8.  allow the frame to dry overnight, 9.  spray the frame with a clear coat and allow to dry, 10.  insert your favorite family photo.  

What a great way to remember one of our favorite places!

The finished product turned out awesome and our 2010 Pawley's Island, SC family picture looked perfect in the frame!  My husband loved the frame and the boys were so proud to have it as a welcome home present for their dad. 

The cost to make the frame = $4, free map, fifty cents in glue, and fifty cents for sponge brush.  Time spent w/my boys making a gift for their dad = priceless! 

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