Today I'm going to show you how I made this personalised
Anniversary present for my recent 6 year Anniversary. I had seen similar ones
online that were really expensive so I decided to make my own one which overall
cost me about £10. It doesn't have to just be for an anniversary either -
birthdays, travelling momentos or gifts for friends & family would also
work well!
Things you will need:
1. Several maps
2. Box frame (This one is from
Wilkinsons.
Ikea also do good box frames)
3. Glue (PVA will do!)
4. Double sided tape or sticky pads I got mine
here
5. Pens, pencils and scrap paper (To make a template)
6. A good pair of scissors
Where?
You need to decide who your present is for and what the
occasion is because this will determine the places you pick. I made a list of
all of the places we had travelled to or lived in while we've been together. If
you don't have many places in mind, make your hearts bigger and have fewer.
Similarly, if you have lots of locations that you want to include, you can have
lots of hearts and play around with the design. It's completely up to you!
Maps
Once you have your list of places you need to collect
your maps! I already had a small collection which I had picked up from charity
shops and
ebay. I wouldn't
recommend buying them new from shops as they are expensive and look too new and
clean for the handmade look you want. One of the important things when you are
selecting your maps is to make sure that the locations you want aren’t on the
fold or the edge of the page! For me this meant having a few maps of the same
locations which also helps with the style and variety of the hearts.
Make a template
Take your scrap paper and draw the shape than you want your maps to be
cut out in. For me a heart was the obvious choice because it was an anniversary
present but circles, triangles or even stars would also work. By this
point you should have an idea as to how many shapes you are making and how they
will fit into your frame.
Practice first!
If you have bought maps especially for this project you
don't want to make a mistake and waste them do you? I recommend that you use
the template to cut out a set of practice shapes first so you can lay it out
and see how it will look in the end.
Making your shapes
Now you're finally at the stage of making your 'real' shapes. Personally, I think it looks best if the name of the place is roughly in the middle of your shape so I drew around the template in pencil first to check that I had it central.
Background
Now that you have your shapes ready, stick them onto white card to strengthen them when they are raised off of the paper. I also cut a white square for the background as the frame came with a dark coloured background which wouldn't work.
Sticking
I wanted my hearts to stand off of the background so I considered using foam board but it's quite expensive and hard to cut into round shapes with a scalpal. So I came across this double sided tape for the bargain price of £1.99 which was quite thick so I decided to use that.
If you are sticking your hearts straight onto the background it's not essential you do this and you can skip this step!
The finished product.
Once you've stuck them down, be careful when putting it in the frame and hang it on your wall or wrap it up ready to give as a present!
Let me know how yours turns out!
