Summer time really gets my travel bug a-jumpin!
I am guilty myself, but so many of us long to travel abroad yet don’t take advantage of our very own American continent! This July, my husband Adam and I are hitting the road for a sweet heart’s road trip to explore some of the USA’s beautiful Southern states.
We both have big travel dreams. To help us keep up with the places we have been and the places we want to go I created this American travel map that doubles as a piece of interactive artwork for the home. Happy traveling and crafting! – Halligan
CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump!
TOOLS:
bandsaw (optional)
Xacto knife and blades
scissors
tape
wood glue
drill and drill bit
computer printer and paper
paint brush
SUPPLIES:
18″ x 24″ piece of thin plywood
22″ piece of 1″ x 2″ wood strip
2 eyehooks and picture hanging wire
20″ x 16″ piece of 1/4″ cork
ball headed pins
water slide paper (optional) - http://www.decalpaper.com/category-s/8.htm
paint
TO MAKE YOUR MAP:
1. Cut out a 24″x18″ rectangle of thin plywood. If you don’t have a saw you can ask the nice folks over a Lowes to help you out. I rounded out my corners on the bandsaw for an extra aesthetic detail.
2. Paint your board desired color. I went with a traditional blue.
3. Print out map templates.
Download templates here:
4. Trim up map pages, tape together, and cut out paper America and circles.
5. Tape paper America and circles to cork. Using an exacto blade in a sawing motion cut out cork America and circles.
6. Glue down cork pieces using wood glue.
7. Print and cut out compass and mod podge onto the bottom left hand side of your board. I used a water slide image transfer paper, which creates a translucent image. You can find transfer paper here: http://www.decalpaper.com/category-s/8.htm
Download the image here:
http://www.designspongeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/compass_template.jpg
TO HANG YOUR MAP
1. Cut one 18″ piece and two, 2″ pieces of 1″ x 2” wood. If you don’t have a saw, you can ask the nice folks over at Lowes to help you where they cut moulding.
2. Drill holes in the 18″ piece about 1 1/4″ from the end and screw in eyehooks.
3. Glue all three pieces to the back of the map, and lace picture hanging wire through two eyehooks.
MAKING FLAGS
1. Print and cut out paper flags and fold in half. Insert pins into crease and glue shut.
Download images here:
http://www.designspongeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/marker_flags.jpg
2. Think about where you’ve been and where you want to go and mark your destinations.
72 Comments
This looks so lovely and is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
This is such a cool idea! It would look especially cool in our home after we finish all of Route 66…
Have fun down South. It’s my favourite part of the country, hands down. If you end up along the Alabama coastline, definitely head to Fairhope.
I am in love. I really want to make one for the world now!
Beautiful! My partner mounted a world map on thin corkboard (bought a roll from Wallymart) and double-sided taped it to the wall. I have an invisible system regarding pin identification, but adding the flags is a great idea. Also adding wood to the back would have been smart to protect the paint on the wall, but oh well! Next time!
What a cool idea! I’m going to make this my July 4th project. I’m thinking of hanging this in my guest room.
Since I lived all over, my guests usually come from all over. It would be neat for my family/friends to pin up where they’re from.
In the process of buying a rental at the beach, this would be a cool alternative to a guest book. Thanks for sharing!
What a cute idea! I can’t get template #3 to work though. Bummer.
I love this idea so much, so cute and functional! and what a perfect time to post an “american” diy project, with independence day right around the corner and all.
this is a super cute idea! thanks for the fabulous diy.
LOVE this, but template 3 isn’t working… please help!
What an awesome idea! great way to keep track of your travels & looks cute too! I can’t wait to try this!
I’m So Doing This! This might be the simplest thing I’ve ever seen… makes you ask, “why didn’t I think of that!”
genius–
Oooh! This is so timely as i just bought a roll of cork to make coasters and I was wondering what to do with all the excess. Can I totally modify this fantastic idea into a Canadian map for myself?? The east coast will be tough but I think I can do it!
XO
Lenore
I love the look of this- very clean. I might consider making a WORLD map in a similar fashion!
What a great DIY idea, this map is so cool!
Thank you for sharing!
Pretty cute idea, but it would be nice to include all of the USA, ie: Alaska & Hawaii.
I would love to make this for my husband’s birthday! Anyone else have problems with Template 3 for the US Map?
Where are you going down south?
We did something similar for our son so he knows when my husband is traveling. I have it on our blog (1088churchill.blogspot.com/2010/04/bryces-map.html)
And we’ve added pictures of grandparents, aunts and uncles around the country.
Does anyone else from Michigan get irritated when our state just ends up looking like a pregnant bump? I surely do.
Other than that, wonderful project. When I make mine, Michigan will get a little bit extra treatment! :)
It looks adorable! Although I’m having a little bit of a problem with not being able to see the shape of the mitten (aka Michigan)… probably because I’m a midwestern girl and love my great lakes! :) Although I understand it might be challenging to cut it out – I’d have to some how make it happen! Oh – and I agree with Miriah – it needs Hawaii and Alaska too!
Oh my gosh.. What a clever idea! I’m just thinking of all the other shapes you could adapt this concept to… A great starting point for endless customization, really. Hats off to Halligan, for sure! :D
This is such a great idea, neat and elegant :)
but the link for the 3rd template seems to be broken to me, too :(((
fantastic idea, it looks great!
xoxo,
lesley
This is AWESOME! I am going to make one ASAP!
this immediately caught my eye, and lo and behold is the handiwork of miss cute halligan norris. i love her stuff everytime before i even know she made it! such awesome projects, such a talented gal!
THIS IS FANTASTIC! My hubby is a pilot in the Air Force and he has been to so many places. I have been searching for a creative way to mark all the place he’s been, I’ve been and , we’ve been. I might bite off a big chunk and adapt this idea to make one of the world. Thanks for the inspiration! :)
This is even better than the piping tutorial. I’m totally loving the sponge today!!
oml! I thought of doing something similar to this after FH and I came back from our big O.E. through Europe and South America. We collected little pin badges from all the countries and cities we visited and instead of one continent, I’ll get a map of the world and stick them all in – nice way to remember our holiday. I was just going to get a funky looking world map (from somewhere…) but I love the idea of little cork cutouts of the countries!
I love your idea of flags for places we want to visit :D
Thanks so much!!
What a fantastic idea! I wish I had seen this months ago before my husband put up a map on the wall so he could keep track (with pushpins) of all of the places we’ve travelled. :)
This is so, so neat. Looks like a good project for the long weekend ahead!
Great idea, I’ll try to do the same but will use the shape of Europe.
Omg, I love this! I have been searching for the perfect map to hang in my house and this may just be it. It would be great to do this as a world map too, although that would be a really challenging project.
Thank you!
As others have already stated, awesome project but I would want more definition in the Great Lakes State! Would also be interesting (impossible?) to do for a world map.
I’m in love with this project! I will definitely be making one of these. It is perfect for my husband and I because we don’t do a lot of international travel, but we love taking road trips across the states. Thanks for sharing this!
Great project! But what about Alaska and Hawaii??? They’re US states I want to visit too.
This will look great in my new place. Thank you!
LOVE LOVE LOVE! but also can’t get template three to open. This is the perfect gift for my brother who is taking a cross country trip after college!
What a COOOL idea!
Thank you so much….wow, never thought of using corkboard as a creative outlet. :^)
Heidi
I LOOOOOOOVE this!!! Oh, if only there was one of the WORLD. Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful idea!
Starting printing the templates as soon as I saw the project! Am just having trouble with Template 3 (no photo) and 5 and 6 print blank pages. Please help!
sabrina
the template is working for me- can you tell me what browser (and version) you’re using so i can troubleshoot?
g
This is an awesome project! :)
BTW, I’m experiencing the same issues as Sabrina (in both Explorer and Firefox).
This is such a cute idea!
BUT… THAT COUCH! in the picture! It is the most amazing couch I have ever seen! I would KILL to have that in my house! (Ok, i wouldn’t kill, but I would pay serious cash!)
Beautiful corkboard project — love it!!
Grace–the template isn’t working for me, either. I’m using Google Chrome 5.0.375.70. Firefox 5.0 isn’t working for me either. Nor does it work on IE 8.
Maybe you can see it because you’re hosting it, but that image doesn’t have access enabled for outside peeps.
jenny
i downloaded it at a friend’s house, so it’s not an outside access issue (my server shows all of the templates have been downloaded a few hundred times already). but if you could email me i can send you the files directly.
g
If you have a vector image of the US (google for it — there are several), you can pop this into illustrator,
1. resize the artboard
2. resize your image (2′ x 3′ or whatever)
3. Print > Tile
I did a 1cm overlap to be sure.
I had issues with image 3 as well and tried firefox, explorer, and safari browsers. Odd.
It looks like a really neat project though!
Amazing! I too had trouble with template image 3. Any chance you can email it to me? Thanks! And great work!
I can’t get template 3 either, email? All of the rest are working great…Thanks!
hi guys- i’m working on template 3. can’t figure out why it doesn’t want to work….
hi guys
template 3 should work now– i saved it in another format and downloaded it again to test. sorry for the delay…
g
Hi! No trouble with Template 3…but I do get blank pages for 5 and 6! Could I get an e-mail?
Thanks!!!
my BF & i totally want to do this project and have already purchased some items, but we cannot for the life of us find 1/4″ corkboard. where did you get yours?
I love this idea! I just wish that Hawaii and Alaska were included (since they are a part of the USA)
amazing! i’m definitely going to try this, thanks for the great post!!
that is a really good idea !
:-)
Love! I featured this on my blog, here: http://punkprojects.blogspot.com/2011/12/make-it-monday_12.html
hi, where did you find 1/4 inch corkboard? i went to home depot and they only had large rolls of it (like the kind for putting under the carpet). and osh sold only 12×12 inch squares. where can i find it online?
Rachel – You can get large pieces of cork from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Cork-Sheets-Plain-24-thick/dp/B001ACNW4I
GREAT! I’m making one of the whole world, I’ll upload a photo when it’s finish
I made one for a friend who travels with her cat, which included little cat flags to show where the cat has been. I also altered it slightly to include the entire world, and added in some illustrations. Instead of cutting out everything from cork board, I made a stencil of the world, and then painted it on the cork board. Check it out on my carbon made album!
Where is Lake Michigan? The State of Michigan looks like a big blob….
John, did you finish the board for the whole world? Also, can you please upload the template for that? :)
Could you please email me the newer templates. I am unable to print 5 & 6. Thanks!!
I would love to see one of the world as well as copy the templates!!!
Any chance of uploading them here?
having trouble with templates 4-6. any chance you could email them? thanks! cute project!
Any suggestions on how to draw out state lines and the lakes for Michigan? Or do you have a template to help with that? Love it!
THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR, FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS NOW. I’m 15 now and I travel tons!!! I collect pins and I have so many and I’m so passionate about them, I’ve hung them on all types of things but I’ve been looking for a really nice way (I’ve had them on a black canvas as of now). I’m going to take your idea, make cork maps of USA, countries in Europe and split them apart, and South America. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH.
You forgot Hawaii and Alaska…
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