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Travel Memory Map DIY

This Travel Memory Map is a gift I’ve been wanting to give to Paul to keep track of our travels. I grew up in a house with a giant map on the wall of our den and love having a map around to show my kids where everything is. It’s really easy to personalize and celebrate all the places you’ve been together. I used push pins to attach mini photos of every location our family has visited around the world.  And, the best part is – we can keep adding to it and tracking our travel memories for years to come.

Materials: Spray Adhesive, Push Pins, Scissors, World Map, Large Piece of Foamcore, Printed Mini Travel Photos (Including Location Name & Date)

Step 1: Cut foamcore down so that it’s the same dimensions as your map.
Step 2: Spray the foamcore with adhesive.
Step 3: Carefully lay the map onto the foamcore. Use your hands to smooth it out so there are no wrinkles.
Step 4: Cut out the mini travel photos you’ve printed.
Step 5: Use push pins to attach the travel photos to the corresponding location on the map.
Step 6: Give to your loved one!

Photography by Sarah Hebenstreit of Modern Kids Photography for Oh Happy Day
Art Direction by Jordan Ferney
Styling by Milan Shimono Lee
Crafting by Caitlin Barker

  1. MiME

    June 3, 2013

    Hello from the other side of the globe!
    Hello from Germany!

    You are so creative!!! The idea with the map is wonderful! It feels like being on vacation every day!!!! I love your blog!!!

    Have a nice day
    MiME

  2. Lisa D.

    June 3, 2013

    I love it! This is such a pretty way to do this!!

  3. Amber

    June 3, 2013

    Love this!!

  4. Liz Marie

    June 3, 2013

    I love this idea!! As a military wife I feel like this would be a great idea in our home to one day show our kids the places we have been 🙂 xx Liz Marie

  5. Rebecca

    June 3, 2013

    what a great idea!! I’m definitely going to do this!
    Rebecca @ tr[i]b[e]cca

  6. Jodi

    June 3, 2013

    love!!

  7. Blaze

    June 3, 2013

    Where did you find your map? I have been wanting to do something like this but haven’t been able to find a map with a color scheme I like. Love this, thanks!

  8. Amy

    June 3, 2013

    Thank You! I was going to put a map on cork, but could not find the size and thickness I needed. Foamcore makes so much more sense!

  9. Lisette Wolter-McKinley

    June 3, 2013

    Fun idea!

  10. Rebecca @This Nest is Best

    June 3, 2013

    Love this idea and especially your mini-photo addition. I created similar map art recently but split my map among eight frames for interest.

    http://thisnestisbest.com/2013/02/27/pinterest-challenge-diy-map-art/

  11. beka

    June 3, 2013

    thanks for this tutorial. i have a map i bought long ago that i wanted to do something similar to, but i haven’t been able to find anything to back the map with. where do you buy such a big piece of foamcore?

      • jordan
      • June 3, 2013

      Michael’s usually has great foamcore options.

  12. STEL STYLE

    June 3, 2013

    this mapa is really cool, I have one like this but just with the simple needles!!

    http://www.thestelstyle.com

  13. Kaisa

    June 3, 2013

    I have been thinking about making a personalized map and I love this idea with the tiny photos! Very cool! xx

    http://reindeertrails.blogspot.com.es

  14. Meg

    June 3, 2013

    What a great idea and way to see where you have been!
    Love!

    http://happinessiscreating.com/

  15. Lucy

    June 3, 2013

    This is a gorgeous idea! The beauty of maps is that they can be introduced into any style of decor. We do them made to measure for the whole wall too!

  16. Jodie

    June 3, 2013

    This is amazing! I’ll definitely be making one of these soon!
    xx

  17. Jennifer

    June 3, 2013

    I have been looking for a world map with these colors! Nice, soft, blues and greens. Where did you get it? The ones I have seen are either “vintage” or too bright!

  18. Marie

    June 3, 2013

    We just have a map with dots on it, so I love the idea of adding photos. Revving up the printer now.

  19. Zaineb

    June 3, 2013

    Great idea! Thank you for sharing.

  20. Sophie

    June 3, 2013

    Wow, what a great idea! I feel like it would be a very inspiring and motivating thing to have in the house. A reminder of where you’ve been and where you want to go : )

  21. Ayelet

    June 3, 2013

    I love the map idea but what I really want to know are where you got those pants. I love anything and everything arrow/chevron patterned!

  22. Vatican Private Tour

    June 3, 2013

    Nice post. Here you provide some valuable points about company it’s really nice. I like your post. Thank you for sharing…………….

  23. Lynn

    June 4, 2013

    Awesome idea! I even have a huge mounted map to use already!

    Also, I loooove the pants. Where are they from??

      • jordan
      • June 4, 2013

      Urban Outfitters!

  24. Audree

    June 4, 2013

    Great idea!

    Any tips on how to hand the foamcore?

  25. Ami

    June 4, 2013

    Love this idea, but have no idea where/how to get mini prints, let alone label them with location and date…

      • jordan
      • June 4, 2013

      Hey Ami! We used Photoshop, but you could use Powerpoint or Word. Or, Pixlr is an free, online photo editing service.

  26. Ashley

    June 4, 2013

    I have a travel map too, but I love the addition on the pictures and dates. Thanks for sharing this idea!

  27. Colleen Clark

    June 4, 2013

    Where did you get those awesome pants!?

      • jordan
      • June 4, 2013

      They’re from Urban Outfitters. 🙂

  28. Maria

    June 4, 2013

    Ahhh, this is perfect! I love the idea of having a huge map on my wall. The wanderluster strikes again!

  29. Gem

    June 4, 2013

    I’ve been looking for one of these to put in my room! Love the idea that you pin the date you have gone!

    http://www.gemsclothesmarket.blogspot.com
    Barely used clothes that just won’t fit in my closet

  30. Lindsay

    June 5, 2013

    I just love your idea of adding little photos. What a great touch!

    I recently made a map corkboard and found a great modern looking map on Amazon.

    http://www.candyandclothes.com/project-852-wo…map-cork-board/

    xo
    Lindsay

  31. Cheap Flights SA

    June 6, 2013

    This is awesome. Now to decide if it will look better in the living room or in the hallway.

  32. Travel Galore

    June 6, 2013

    The hardest part of this is actually choosing which picture is the best out of all the ones you took.

  33. Sally from Little Hiccups

    June 8, 2013

    I made up a similar map for my daughter’s bedroom a few years back so we could pin all of the places we had been on our travels. I mounted my map on foam core too and had intended to use spray adhesive to attach it. That was until I was about to use the spray adhesive on and noticed the warning NOT to use it on foam core as it may eat into it! Oddly enough this wasn’t mentioned to me at the art supply store where I purchased both items! Have you found any problems using spray adhesive on foam core?
    I ended up sticking my map down with loads of double sided tape. It took a long time – and lots of tape – but it held up fine for years. Unfortunately I had to get rid of it when we moved from Australia to San Francisco as it was just too big 🙁 I think it’s time I made another travel map – slightly smaller this time!

  34. Lonneke

    June 13, 2013

    Hi, love your DIY map! I’ve recently made one myself with little polaroids. It’s on my blog (www.bubblemint.nl/blog.php search: travel) Although it’s in dutch, I thought you might like it too 😉

  35. Liese | lipstickandsoda

    June 15, 2013

    such a lovely project, thanks for sharing! i hope that one day i’ll have as many travel pins as you!

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