USA Map Art Tutorial

I saw this darling USA map at a cute boutique. I loved it! But I didn't love the price. Today I'll share how I made my new USA Map Art. I started with a cute frame I had painted a couple years ago. I had glued on cute flowers. I really like this frame how it is. And  I liked the idea of adding pictures or other items with the clothes pins but I wasn't utilizing this feature.

Supplies:

Old frame

Wood pieces. Use your frame for the measurements. Plus you going to want enforcing      pieces for the back.

Wood Glue

Ruler

Pencil

Cameo Silhouette 

Paint and Brushes

I scored some free slats of wood on one of my favorite Monday Adventures. Turning my frame over I measured the cuts I would need to make for the slats fit in my frame. You can use pallet wood, spare wood, or buy some fairly thin pieces at Lowe's or Home Depot. 

My wood didn't fit in perfectly so I had to cut one piece horizontally. I just used my hubby's basic hand saw. It's all we have for right now. My edges aren't perfect but you can't tell when you put it in the frame.

Here I am gluing my wood slats together. Next I will add the extra pieces to keep them together.

Next I glued each wood slat to each other, using my finger to wipe the excess off. I then used extra pieces to hold it together. Put your wood in your frame horizontally and then glue extra wood slates vertically, one on each side. Turn it over and put a whole bunch of heavy books on it to help stay together.

Using awesome books helps the process speed up

After a couple of hours you are ready to paint. I did apply a little bit of stain to my wood. Then after that dried I used my Cameo Silhouette. Using vinyl make a USA map stencil. (Sorry Alaska and Hawaii) Carefully paint inside your stencil. You can then paint on two hearts or how ever many places your heart has been.  I love how this piece of art reminds me of my home in Southern California. We are loving Arizona, but I don't want to forget where we came from. Or our amazing loved ones there. My boys were pretty excited because they love maps. Although my oldest boy likes a little more detail in his.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial. Luckily the depth of my project fit in perfectly. You could add a bracket on the back if you need to and adhere the frame on.  Or you could  have the exposed wood shown and not frame it. It is really up to you. Keep your eyes open for some free wood. And I can't wait to show you my gallery wall next week. I finally got pictures on my wall in my entry room.