I love to travel, whether it’s road trippin’ the US or traveling abroad. For years I’ve been wanting a way to commemorate our travels in one place. This Wanderlust Map is what I came up with.

THE BOARD

I bought a board at Home Depot and painted it a variety of colors. The paint effect is random with a slight textured appearance. I was going for an overall tan color with highlights of other colors. A basic blue background, representing the oceans, would have been nice too.

WANDERLUST TEXT

I used a Martha Stewart stencil set for the text. It worked out perfectly that no letters were used more than once. So I taped the stencils together and dabbed paint over the entire text. Then waited for the paint to dry and went over the letters again. This worked very well. However, I don’t love the R and the U letters that came with the stencil set. I wish I would have used an upside down n as the u, then use the n again, blocking off the section that wouldn’t work, as an r. Oh well.

THE MAP

I found a cork world map at Michaels and loved it.

I mixed purple, pthalo blue and black paint to create a dark navy color and painted the cork.

When the paint dried, I assembled the map onto the board. The map has adhesive on the back, but I found not all of it stuck well to my board. So, I used gorilla glue to help it stay attached.

ADDING PHOTOS

The photos are 3″ x 3″ with a skinny white border.

One tack is placed at the vacation location & one tack is on the vacation photo. They are connected with twine.

I wasn’t sure how crazy I wanted the final product to look, so I didn’t add every single place we’ve been. But, eventually I will add more photos.

FINISHED PIECE

I love it – especially because it highlights various points throughout our relationship. Hawaii, where he first kissed me. Our honeymoon in Mexico. Tropical destinations as scuba divers. Road trip as a family of 4. Then again as a family of 5. Etc, etc. etc.

How do you commemorate your travels?

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NOTRE DAME

I love Notre Dame. It is breathtaking inside and out.

In 2002, Farmer John & I quickly admired the main level. It was amazing and when we brought the kids to Paris in 2015 it was a place I definitely wanted them to see. Plus, let’s be honest, I wanted to see it again.

This time we climbed the stairs to the top of the towers. We arrived early, but there was still a long wait. It was worth the wait.

I enjoyed the entire experience – the enormous Emmanuel bell, the view, even the narrow spiral staircases. My favorite thing, though, was getting to see the chimera up close.

GARGOYLE VS. CHIMERA

Only recently did I learn the difference between a gargoyle and a chimera. The first 30 years of my life I used the word gargoyle to describe both. Very naive, I know.

GARGOYLE
Gargoyles are functional. They were built on the end of gutters to prevent rain water from dripping on the walls and eventually ruining the building.

CHIMERA
Chimera are decoration. Weird, yet awesome, decoration. These ones on Notre Dame have a great view of the city.

The building of Notre Dame occurred and changed over hundreds of years. The chimera were added during the 1800’s.

The guy in the upper right is Stryga, probably the most famous chimera.

CUTTING 3 WOOD SQUARES

I bought a long pine board that was 5.5″ high at Home Depot.

I wanted the wood to be square, so using a table saw Farmer John cut the board to 5.5″ wide. Then, he cut two more squares.

BACKGROUND COLOR

I used a simple gray color to paint the 3 wooden squares.

Then, I used a piece of sand paper to both smooth the surface and roughen the edges.

ROUGH IT UP

As I’ve mentioned a number of times, I rarely paint just one color. These squares were no different.

After the main background paint dried, I used a variety of gray paints to add a bit of interest to the wood. Instead of a brush, I used a natural sponge to lightly apply the color.

After that layer of paint dried, I sanded the edges to give them a rough look.

ADDING THE PHOTO’S

The original photos are in color. Using Photoshop, I changed them to black and white.

I cropped and printed the photos to a 5″x 7″ size. Then I trimmed the photo to 5″ x 5″.

Using mod podge, I glued a 5′ x 5″ photo to each square.

3 SQUARES IN A ROW

I chose to make three squares and place them in a row. It would also be a fun project to have 4 squares, but place them 2 x 2.

Anyone else think the chimera are as fascinating as I do?

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Years and years ago, before we had kids, the hubby and I spent one day & one night in Paris. We climbed the stairs of the Eiffel Tower and were rewarded with a great view of the city. The photos I came home with were lovely, but lacking one key feature of Paris since we were standing on it. So this last time we visited, in 2015, I was determined to get photos of the amazing city with the Eiffel Tower in the shot. We ended up making it to two famous landmarks with great views, the Arc de Triomphe & the towers at Notre Dame.

SUPPLIES

• 2 – 16″ x 20″ canvas
• 1 – 16″ x 20″ photo
• 1 – 12″ x 18″ photo
• Dark gray acrylic paint & paintbrush
• Mod podge
• Bling on a roll
• Hot glue

PAINTING THE CANVAS

Using dark gray acrylic paint I painted the sides, as well as the edges of the main part of the canvas . I was being frugal and didn’t see any reason to paint the section of canvas that wouldn’t be seen.

DECOUPAGE

I applied mod podge to the back of the photo and centered it on the canvas. Then, as a layer of protection, I brushed mod podge over the top of the photo and canvas.

ADDING BLING

Have you seen this? Bling on a roll! Brilliant.

This particular roll had 4 rows of bling connected. Four rows was too thick for my design so I cut the bling to 2 rows.

After the mod podge dried, I used a glue gun to attach the bling to the canvas.

AND, REPEAT

I repeated the entire process for the other photo and canvas.

FINISHED PIECES

I love how the pieces are matchy-matchy… but not perfectly matchy-matchy.

I would love to see how you display your vacation photos.

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There was a blank space on our Travel Gallery Wall that fit a 20″ x 16″ canvas perfectly. Since Germany was only represented once on the wall, I was hoping the canvas could be German themed. I absolutely loved this view of the river when we were in Nuremberg, so it seemed an easy choice.

SUPPLIES

• 20″ x 16″ canvas
• 18″ x 12″  photo (I had this one printed at Costco)
• Acrylic paint
• Wood letters and wood shape
• Distress ink
• Mod podge
• Craft glue

PAINTING THE CANVAS

I rarely paint a canvas color straight outta the bottle. I prefer the not-so-perfect look of color blending. However, one color would work just fine.

The main background color is a mix of 7 different paints (left photo). I was going for a barn reddish gray.

After the background color dried, I went over the top of it dry brush style. I chose an orange color to bring out the roof on the building and a light yellow green to highlight the tree.

WOOD LETTERS

I picked these wood letters up at a craft store and love them. They were priced reasonably and I’ve used them for many projects already.

They are easy to paint. This time, though, I wanted the wood to show through to match the wood bird I was planning to add. So, instead, I rubbed the edges with a brown distress ink.

GLUING ON THE PHOTO

Sometimes when I glue a photo onto canvas I do it decoupage style – putting mod podge on the back of the photo to act as glue and also putting mod podge on the front to protect the photo.

For this project I opted not to put mod podge on the front of the photo. I did use it as glue, though, to adhere the photo to the canvas. I used a foam brush to spread glue on the back of the photo and also spread a little on the canvas itself.

I eye-balled where I wanted the photo and carefully set the photo in place. Then I gave the photo a little push rubbing it onto the canvas. There wasn’t anything supporting the canvas, making it a tad irritating to rub on the photo. So I flipped the canvas over and rubbed the photo on that way. It’s much nicer to press against a hard surface.

GLUING ON WOOD DECORATIONS

I used craft glue to attach the wood pieces to the canvas.

Again, I just eye-balled where I wanted to place the wood pieces. But, I did line up the top edge of the photo with a red line on a ruler to make sure the letters were parallel with the photo.

FINISHED CANVAS

Another home decor item of a memorable family vacation complete. Woop, woop! A feeling of accomplishment for the day.

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Who knew I was going to become a runner? I certainly didn’t.

However, I found that it works for my lifestyle.

I don’t love the training, but I really enjoy the run events.

I’m not fast, but I finish.

It is rewarding. I feel good. I feel accomplished.

Somewhere around the beginning of my running adventure I learned about the Tinker Bell Half Marathon in Disneyland. Goal.

That became my goal and sole purpose for hitting the pavement multiple times a week.

Finishing the half marathon was the end result, but there many events leading up to it. I want to remember it all. So, I created a photo book.

DESIGNING THE PAGES

The various photo book company’s have software to design a book. The ones I have used work just fine. However, you are limited to their designs and clip art. I much prefer the freedom of designing the pages in Photoshop with  design elements I choose.

I create a page in Photoshop the exact size my printed photo book pages will be. For example, this is a 12″x12″ book, so I made my pages 12″x12″. When designing the page, I keep a 1/2″ border around all edges blank to allow for printing and trimming variances.

The finished page is saved as a .jpg. I upload all the jpegs to the photo book company website just as you would any photo. Then when I set up the pages in their software I’m only adding one “photo” per page.

I use Shutterfly most often when making photo books. I choose their hard cover option because I love having my own special photo fill the entire front of the book.

The basics of my layouts:
• Background color spread across both pages
• Two complimentary colors shown as torn paper on both pages
• Chevron border along the bottom
• Event and distance tags at upper left
• One rectangle frame & one square frame on left
• Collage of photos to fill in the rest of the left page
• Stats recorded on the right page
• If there was a medal given, a photo of the medal is placed on the far right
• Blank space left to place bib once the book is printed

I made a Bib & Bling Board awhile ago, but I didn’t realize how quickly it would fill up. The hooks holding the bibs are almost full. So, when designing this book I purposely left blank spaces to attach the bibs right into the book. That freed up space on those hooks and adds a special touch to the book. I used photo tape to adhere the bibs.

2 Computer Designed Images Saved as JPG’s

Printed Version of the Pages with Bib Attached

For this book, I used my own design elements – most are available on Etsy.

Something to be aware of:
When you receive your printed book it is bound so it lays nice and flat. Adding the race bibs to the pages creates thickness that the binding hasn’t accounted for. In my case, it’s not a huge difference and I’m not worried about it. However, it is something to keep in mind and you definitely don’t want to add more to your pages than is necessary.

GALLERY OF PAGES

Cover Page

My first race event: The Hippie Chick Quarter Marathon

The Color Vibe was my first color run. I loved it because it was just plain fun, but also because I did it with my sister & my very best friends.

My first night run: the Neon Run. I didn’t do another night run until over two years later in Vegas. I’ll admit, I’m more of a morning run type of person.

The Shamrock Run was special because the hubby and I did it together. Getting out just the two of us is a rare treat.

I did talk him into doing the Warrior Dash with me, too. That’s the last event we have done together. I had intentions of doing the Star Wars 5K with him and the kids. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out.

The big event: my first half marathon!

Back Cover

I’m thrilled with the way this book turned out.

Up next: Road to a Marathon. That’s right – I signed up for my first marathon in October. Eek! I’m excited and feel this is the right time to go for it. However, I’m so scared I just want to cry.

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I love to travel & I can’t help but collect goodies while traveling. Back in the old days, I would add those goodies to my vacation scrapbooks. However, I was always nervous about it due to acid and such in the cheaply produced maps and ticket stubs. Now, though, I create digital scrapbooks and add photos of those tickets and maps – which leaves me with the originals. Usually they end up in an envelope crammed onto an unsightly shelf full of similar items. There they sit. Never to be looked at again. When I saw Martha Stewart’s Travel Keepsake Kits, I knew this was my solution.

Honestly, it took me a awhile to get around to making them. But, I did make them – a slightly distressed version of Martha’s. And, I love them. They’re fun and bright and full of fabulous memories.

This post contains affiliate links.

SUPPLIES

• Memory Box
• Stencils
• Acrylic Paints
• Paintbrush, sponge & spouncer
• Sandpaper

THE BOX

I would have liked to purchase the boxes Martha suggested, however they were almost twice as expensive as similar ones I found. Had I been buying only one box, I probably would have sprung for Martha’s. But, I was buying 5. So, I went with the cheaper Darice brand box.

I don’t know the quality of Martha’s box, so I can’t compare. But, I can say the boxes I did buy aren’t heavy duty. I’m sure they wouldn’t hold up to constant open and closing. Mostly, though, mine are sitting on a bookshelf looking pretty. I’m going to guess they’ll last quite a long time in that situation.

STEP 1: PAINTING THE BOX

First: I “primed” the box with a coat of ivory paint.
Next: I painted the box in my chosen color.
Then: To add a distressed look, I used a sponge to dab on various colors – mainly around the edges.
Last: I added way too much paint on the distressed layer, so I sanded most of it off. The sanding added a new aspect of distress, which I liked.

STEP 2: PAINTING ON THE DESTINATION

I scoured craft stores and the internet for stencils. In the end, I opted for the ones Martha suggested. I love them! They are adhesive, yet repositionable. I’ve used them on many projects since these boxes and they’re still holding up.

I positioned the letters on the box, then used a spouncer to dab on charcoal colored acrylic paint. I tried to dab ever so lightly so the paint wouldn’t seep under the stencil. It wasn’t perfect, but mostly I did an ok job.

In case you’re wondering, my fancy paint palette is a pringles lid. They make perfect palette’s for small amounts of paint.

STEP 3: PAINTING ON THE YEAR

Martha didn’t do this step, but I took creative liberties and added the year(s) of our vacation(s). I painted the numbers on exactly as I did the letters naming the place.

FINISHED BOXES

Now to go on vacation and paint more boxes.

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