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 needed one last item to add to a wall dedicated to all things Disney. This hand painted laughter sign fit perfectly.

The word was inspired by this quote:

“Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.”

I’m not actually sure Walt Disney said this quote, however the internet thinks he did. Either way, I enjoy the phrase.

Materials

• Wood Board – mine is 5.5″ x 22″
• Sandpaper
• Acrylic Paint – I used cerulean blue, pthalo blue, cadmium yellow, deep magenta, crimson, & white
• Paint Brushes, Sponge, & Spouncer
• Exacto Knife and Cutting Mat
• Laughter Stencil, preferably printed on card stock
• String and Hot Glue

Step 1: Paint Background

I began by cutting a 6′ board to approximately 22″ long.

Next I sanded the board just a bit.

Using a 1″ brush I painted the board in cerulean blue.

After the blue paint dried, I sanded the board again.

Anybody who follows me regularly knows I rarely paint a background one color and leave it. I prefer mixing in a little coordinating or completely opposite color. This time I went with a darker blue, yellow, magenta and crimson.

Also, as I tend to do when using a small amount of paint, I used a pringles can lid as a paint palette.

As opposed to a brush, I used a sponge to lightly apply color to the board.

When the paint dried, the board was sanded once again.

Step 2: Add Text

Using a font I liked (Harman simple, btw) I typed out the word laughter, sized and printed it. You can click the image or here to get a copy of the text, then enlarge it to the size that works for your project.

Using an exacto knife I cut out the letters. There’s no need to be exact when cutting out the letters. Close is good enough.

Using a spouncer, I dabbed white paint inside the stencil. After the paint dried, I dabbed on paint again. Then again, one more time.

I printed the text on regular copy paper, as opposed to card stock like I meant to do. So, paint blobbed under the stencil in a few places. Boo!

I remedied the error by painting cerulean blue over the unwanted white blobs.

When dry, the board received one last sanding.

Step 3: Add Hanger

For a hanger, I simple hot glued string to the back.

On Display

The laughter sign hangs on my Disney wall directly underneath my RunDisney canvases.

Ah, so nice to finish the last piece of this wall gallery.

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To go along with the Freedom Canvas I recently made and our patriotic themed mantel, I created a no sew bunting. It was so simple to make. A little fabric, hot glue, red paint, and twine turned into new decor for summer.

THE CANVAS TRIANGLES

I used leftover canvas fabric from our Jedi robes to cut the triangles. They are about 5.5″ wide & 7″ high. I cut 12 triangles and left them unfinished.

THE STARS

My printer wasn’t working, so I had to freehand a star for the stencil. Eek!

I drew the star on cardstock and cut it out. The cardstock stencil won’t hold up forever, but it worked perfectly for the 12 stars I needed.

Next, I used red acrylic paint and dabbed it through the stencil on each canvas triangle.

ATTACHING THE TRIANGLES TO THE TWINE

I cut a long length of twine to fit our mantel and eye-balled where to place the triangles. The canvas is folded over the twine and hot glued in place. Once I finished all 12 triangles I cut off the two small excess pieces that was now showing in the front.

FABRIC STRIPS

For a chic look, I added a variety of fabric strips in between each triangle. I used leftover fabric scraps to make the strips. I simply tore the fabric in various lengths, then knotted them around the twine.

BUNTING ON DISPLAY

Happy 4th of July from Ridgetop Farm & Garden!

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Our fireplace mantel was in need of a summer redesign. I chose to go with a patriotic theme, but needed a couple more items to complete the look. The area was calling for a picture or graphic, so I created this collage style canvas. It has a rustic feel, is filled with imperfections, and works perfectly in this spot.

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SUPPLIES

• Acrylic Paint
(I used Engine Red, Poppy Red, Dutch Blue, Charcoal & White)
• Paint brush, spouncer & sponge
• 11 x 14 canvas
• Denim patterned scrapbook paper
• Mod Podge
• Letter Stencils
(I used these ones from Martha Stewart Crafts)
• Clear Glitter
• Glitter Glue

PAINT RED BACKGROUND

Using Engine Red paint, I brushed paint around the edges, sides and in the area the text would be going. I skipped the middle area because the scrapbook paper will be covering that spot.

Next, I sponged Poppy Red paint on the canvas.

BLUE DENIM MOD PODGE

I trimmed the straight edges off the scrapbook paper by tearing it against the edge of my table. This gives a less than perfect feel to the project, which I like.

Then I tore the scrapbook paper all the way across at 2.5″ leaving me with two pieces of paper.

I used mod podge to glue the two pieces of denim paper to the canvas.

Next, I sponged on Poppy Red paint to soften the edges around the mod podged paper. Then I did the same sponging technique with Dutch Blue and a tiny bit of Charcoal paint.

TEXT & SPLATTER

For the text, I used Martha Stewart stencils and white paint. I used a spouncer to apply the paint.

Then I used a paint brush and the splatter technique to add white “stars” to the canvas.

After the paint dried I applied a coat of Mod Podge over the entire canvas.

When the canvas was dry, I brushed glitter glue over the letters and sprinkled on glitter.

FINISHED CANVAS

Thank you to our Service men & women who protect our freedom!

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Throughout the year we learned a little bit about a few different Native American tribes. When we were studying the Sioux of the Great Plains the boys made teepees out of paper bags.

This project was completed in one sitting & made a great visual when learning about the Sioux. We learned that the teepees were positioned so the door flaps opened to the east, the direction of the rising sun. We learned that the designs painted or embroidered on the outside represented something significant about the family living in the teepee. They had fires & cooked in their teepees. This, of course, created smoke. The hole & flaps at the top of the teepee were there to let the smoke escape.

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I used the tipi project from this Indians of the Great Plains stencil book as a guide for our teepees.

It seems so simple, which really it was. But, it still took a little trial & error to get the template just right for the boys to trace. It’s basically a half circle with wings at the top to create smoke flaps.

The boys cut open a paper grocery bag & traced around my template onto the bag. Then they used oil pastels to decorate their teepee. Both boys chose to use one stencil from the book, as well as add a few other design elements

The boys used tape to fasten the paper bag into a cone shape. We found we needed to add tape to both the inside & outside of the teepee to keep it together. Then they taped 6 skewers on the inside to act as the long poles holding up the teepee.

Left: They folded out the smoke flaps.
Right: And, they folded out the door flaps.
They also added toothpicks to act as pins holding the teepee together.

Farm Kid1 chose to add long poles (aka skewers) to the back of his teepee through the smoke flaps. Farm Kid2 chose not to add these poles.

Farm Kid1’s teepee

Farm Kid2’s teepee. The symbols on his smoke flap represent 3 days & 3 nights.

This was definitely a fun project. I had fun seeing what designs the boys came up with. They turned out so well I currently have them displayed on our mantel.

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To go along with our Native American studies the kids made these awesome symbols out of oil pastel. The Plains Indians used both naturalistic & geometric designs in their art. We made both.

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I picked this book up at a home school group book swap. It’s a Good Year Book titled Indians of the Great Plains & comes with stencils. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the book. It describes much about the life of Plains Indians, as well as tell a few legends. Each stencil has information about why that design was important. There are also a number of great projects in the back of the book. We made the teepee & parfleche bag.

When I saw an Indian symbols craft at Art Projects for Kids I knew it would be a perfect way to use the stencils.

Using a paper bag as their canvas, they traced a stencil with pencil.

Then, they went over their pencil lines with black oil pastel.

Next, they colored inside the black line.

And finally, they made a border around the outside of the black line with white oil pastel.

Native American men typically painted naturalistic images on their belongings, such as shields & teepees.

Women used porcupine quills or beads to create geometric designs.

Left: Naturalistic Designs: Elk, Buffalo & Horse
Right: Geometric Designs: Turtle, Spider & Dragonfly

I loved this project. The kids did a great job!

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