Make Large Canvas Wall Art Out of An Old Map

On my last trip to Pottery Barn opps, I mean my local thrift store, I ran across this old globe.  I loved the robin’s egg blue colors but the ugly plastic really threw me for a loop – oh wait!  No it didn’t, I have SPRAY PAINT!  So I quickly went home and applied my beautiful gold and brown spray paint to the plastic.  Wonders never cease – it looked fabulous. 

It reminded me that I had previously picked up an old slightly laminated MAP from the same thrift store and I began to wonder what I could do with my new found globe and matching map???? Tick tock, tick tock, my creative juices were coming…….

 (globe was $3.00)

Ah Ha!  My son needed something on his wall in his room and since that is where I put the globe how about matching wall art! 

I went to Michaels and picked up a bunch of canvases at 40% off.  I traced around the canvas and cut out each rectangle.  The overall map size was 31”x 50”.  The smaller canvases I bought were 8x10 and the larger were 16x20. You can click the links to take you to my affiliate Amazon where you can purchase similar maps/canvases yourself. :-)

                                                                   World Wall Maps!

                     

Next I spray painted the edges with a left over blue I had from this wine glass project. I am a sucker for anything AGED looking so I spray painted some brown to the edges too.

Once dry, I brushed on some glue and attached my cut out map pieces.

Once that dried (I turned them over to add some weight to the drying process) I wanted to age the edges just a little more so I took out my inking pad, or chalk pad, and “aged” the edges. If you were really brave you could lightly sprayed some gold or brown spray paint on the corners to age it. I also put a little brown glaze on the map itself to try to give it some more character. I can’t decide if it was worth that extra step or not?? 

Anyway, once dry I came back and put Mod Podge over the top in criss cross strokes. If your map does not have a coating on it (some form of lamination) be VERY careful with applying the glue, a lot of people are saying their map is ripping.  My suggestion would be to find a map with some sort of a coating on it. (not just thin paper)

                                              

VOILA!!! Really, that wasn’t too hard. Now I have a BIG piece of wall art for not a lot of money!

Stay creative with me folks – even if you didn’t find a map at a thrift store you could take this same technique and make large canvas art. I found this great tutorial on how to do that with printed scrapbook pages. Just apply (glue) your photo to the canvas and cover with the mod podge. It makes it look like designer canvas prints. The possibilities are endless. How about cutting out a favorite fabric and applying that to the canvas?

My son's EXPLORER themed room! 

Keep those Creative Juices Flowing!!!

I was so excited to see receive an email of one of my readers showing me the map she did using my tutorial! Isn't it great!!  Here's Nicholle’s map. I love the different colors.  

Another reader did her nursery in an "It's a small world" theme!

If you want to see more fun ideas, check out this Pottery Barn Knockoff clock that I did using a round board I found at the thrift store!!

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