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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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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