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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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.

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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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Throughout this school year we’ve been celebrating Mexican holidays & doing crafts to go along with them. Recently we celebrated Cinco de Mayo.

I was really hoping we’d be able to finish off our year with a trip to Mexico. I’d love to see Chichen Itza & other Mayan ruins. But, that didn’t happen. Bummer.

But, we did create some fun crafts.

Double Headed Serpent Mosaic

Years ago we went on a cruise through the Mexican Riviera. On the ship was a version of the Double Headed Serpent. So when I saw the mosaic craft at That Artist Woman, I knew it was one we were going to do.

I cut the serpent shapes out of stiff cardboard.

The kids used tempera paint on the entire serpent. This doubled as “grout” on their mosaic.

I must admit the other thing that drew me to this craft was that it required egg shells. I’m always on the lookout for ways to use eggs. I had recently colored eggs to place in the background of a few photos of our new chicks. This was a perfect way to use up those shells.

The kids used watered down clear Elmer’s glue to adhere the colored egg shells.

Farm Girl & Farm Kid1 chose to use buttons as their eyes. Farm Kid2 cut out circles from index paper.

The mouth & teeth were cut from white index paper.

Mosaic Masterpieces

Other Crafts Inspired by Mexico:

Papel Picaco

I checked out a book from the library to look at for our papel picado craft.

We used tissue paper and scissors to create designs from the book.

We strung them all together on string & hung them in our house.

Sombrero

I saw a photo on Flickr and loved the craft. So, we put together our own version.

I created a hat template out of index paper. Then, the kids traced the template onto old file folders & cut them out.

I got out a pile of crafting goodies for the kids to use as they wanted. Farm Kid1 decided to use the shavings of a colored pencil for decoration, which I thought was an original idea.

Then they cut out an oval & drew on a nose & mouth. I love that the eyes are covered.

Fun Crafts = Fun Times

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To hold all their papers and crafts from our study of Mexico, the kids made quick and easy lapbooks.

The lapbook is made from two index folders taped together. A third index folder was cut to make pockets, which were taped to the full index folders.

We kept it pretty simple. The cover has the Mexican flag glued to it and stamped letters to spell Mexico.

Inside the lapbook holds a variety of items we worked on throughout the year, including the double headed serpent mosaic.

Celebrating Dia de los Muertos?
Check out the printables at Ridgetop Digital Shop.

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On the 5th of May the kids did not work on their regular curriculum. Instead, we had a Mexican themed party day.

I took the items in the pocket chart out and replaced them with Mexico related things. My mom gave me the map with info on it, which was a placemat from a restaurant. The photos, money, and dress up dolls came out of our North American Continent Box.

I read Tomie dePaola’s Adelita to the kids. It is a Mexican Cinderella story.

As a comparison, I also read Cinders by Jan Brett. This book is a Chicken Cinderella story, which of course, we loved. We also discussed Disney’s version of Cinderella.

This was a win, win, win conversation. I love Jan Brett, I love Tomie dePaola, and I love Disney.

For lunch we had one of my favorite meals: chicken tacos, with Spanish rice and beans. I even pulled out the hand painted dishes we bought in Mexico many moons ago.

We ate homemade churros after lunch.

Spanish bingo has been a huge hit on our Mexico days, so we played it again. Bingo prizes were leftover pencils & erasers.

The kids also made a few crafts that day.

It’s a lot of work to put together a theme day, but they are so much fun.

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To go along with our study of Mexico, we spent January 6th learning about Three Kings Day. It is 12 days after Christmas & celebrates the three wise men bringing their gifts to baby Jesus. We don’t typically celebrate this day in our family, but many Latin Americans do so we explored it.

Kings Bread

We started the morning with our version of Rosca de Reyes, or Kings’ Bread.

Making bread is easy, but I needed something even easier that day. So, I used cinnamon rolls from a tube. I placed them in a crown shape & hid an almond in one of the rolls. The almond represented baby Jesus.

Traditionally the person who finds baby Jesus in the bread is supposed to host a party on February 2nd. Instead, I gave the kid who found the almond a 3 Kings Day Bar.

Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh

Representing the gifts of frankincense & myrrh I used a scented warmer in the school room. I don’t typically use a warmer and the kids enjoyed the new smell that day.

Representing gold were chocolate coins.

Spanish Word Bingo

Just for fun we played Spanish Bingo. The template is from the Scholastic Monthly Idea books.

Silhouette Craft

The kids made a craft I found at Crayola. It is very similar to a silhouette craft we made a couple years ago.

They began by painting their background with watered down paint, then adding salt to the wet paint. The salt soaks up the color and leaves “stars” in the sky.

While the paint was drying they cut out wise men & camel shapes out of black construction paper.

Next, they painted a simple foreground. And finally, they glued their silhouette shapes to the painted paper.

This was a fun day expanding our knowledge about both Christmas & Mexico. These hands-on days are my favorite way to school my children.

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Farm Kid1 & I are both enjoying this unit. It has been a great way to discuss other countries, even if it hasn’t been in great detail. I like learning about so many countries, but next year I think we will only do 1 or 2 countries per week so we can study each country more in depth. I would like to learn a song, do a craft & cook something from each country. We just don’t have the time to do that with this set up.

Mexico
Feliz Navidad

I chose Mexico as a country to study because when Farm Kid1 was 3 years old & Farm Kid2 was 1 we had the opportunity to go on a Mexican cruise with some friends of ours. This was a nice way to throw in real life conversation along with learning something new. (Although, I don’t recommend going on a cruise with such young children.)

TAMALES
This couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. My hubby wanted to make tamales, so I asked him if Farm Kid1 could help. And, voila our Mexican themed activity was complete. Although, Farm Kid1 didn’t really care for the taste of the finished tamale.

Philippines
Maligayang Pasko

This year, through our church, our family put together 2 gift boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. I received an email saying our gifts were sent to the Philippines, which is why I chose to study this country.

PAROL
The parol is a common Christmas decoration in the Philippines. This one Farm Kid1 made is not lighted or near as fancy as the ones seen in the Philippines, but for some reason it makes me happy. It just seems cheery.

Switzerland
Schoni Faschttag

I didn’t have a real reason to study Switzerland, I just simply chose it. The Switzerland activity was creating a natural bell. The instructions are on Homeschool share. It turned out so-so.

Our Christmas Around the World Links:
Week 1 – Finland, France & Australia
Week 2 – Mexico, Philippines & Switzerland
Week 3 – England, Italy & Israel

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