'Special place in my heart' Art - Anniversary gift

My amazing husband and I celebrated our anniversary recently and although we are not usually ones who shower each other with gifts (we are practical and tend to buy something we need), I decided this year I would make him something special.

I decided a while ago to create collage wall of photos and other things that are special to us in our master bedroom. So I knew since we were the only ones who were going to see it, I was going to make something symbolic for only us and I wouldn't have to explain what it meant.

I have been addicted to Pinterest for a while now and I pinned the hand made map art. For those of you who are on Pinterest, you have seen it and for those of you who are not on Pinterest...try it out! Well, this piece of art is sold online for 250 pounds without a frame. Seriously!?! I knew I could easily make if for $20.

Here is what I initially created...a frame with 9 special places in our hearts:

I purchased the frame at Ikea for $19 and a road atlas of the US, Canada and Mexico for $1 at our local thrift shop. I had another map in my car that we have not used since the invention of a GPS :) So I had plenty of maps to choose from.

I cut out a heart template (3inches wide by 2.5 inches high) with my Cricut and Sure Cuts Alot. I then used this template to determine how to position the map on the Cricut mat to cut the heart exactly where I wanted. For those of you who do not have a cutter (like me until recently), you can draw a basic heart and trace it so all the hearts are the same size.

I cut 9 different locations that were special to my husband and I (i.e. where we met, got married, had each of our kids, vacations, our homes etc.)

 After these were cut, I quickly ironed the hearts to make them lay perfectly flat.

I was going to attach the maps to a white background but I really liked how they looked on the blue scrapbook paper.

I secured the 9 evenly spaced map hearts with double sided tape onto the scrap book paper. I framed the piece and stood back. I loved it but knew something was not right. I realized that since we had kids there were so many more places that we have special memories of. So I started to add more hearts that apply to us as a family.  I decided I will add a new heart for ever vacation we take over the next years.

Our hearts grow with amazing memories for every vacation and so will our 'special place in my heart' art.

I will continue to add hearts around the mat like this:

 

My husband loved it and immediately knew what it meant when he saw the names on the maps. We had an amazing night talking about all of these places and had a great time explaining to the kids why each place is special to us.

I think this would make a great wedding, anniversary, or valentines day gift for anyone special in your life.

I hope you like it as much as we do.

Linking to some great parties including: Story of A2Z