do you like to travel? i really do. for as long as i can remember i was traveling someplace. my grandparents lived in michigan (where i was born) but my parents and i lived in arkansas so from the age of 7 i spent my summers up there... my last summer up there i was 16. and from the age of 14-17 at the end of may i would go on school trips to international competitions for ace (accelerated christian education). it feels odd now if i go too long without some kind of road trip.
so for a couple of years i have been wanting to make some kind of piece to show all the states that i have visited. i bought a cork board about a year ago and have been looking for just the perfect map to mount to it ever since. then i ran across these pre-cut state pieces from studio calico. hello!...perfect. in fact, so much so that i'm not the only one to think of using it for this project. amazing how great minds think alike!
it was super easy to put the pieces together and i was amazed that they fit so well on the cork board that i had already purchased. i used my atg to stick them to the cork. not sure if this will hold them on permanently but i guess i'll see!
i had a few decorative pins and then "borrowed" some from my mom's sewing stash to use. i sat down and made a list of all the states and towns that i had visited. then i just pulled up google maps to get an approx location for each of the cities. i was going to put tags on each pin listing the city, but i thought that would look too cluttered. i'm liking just having the pins for now. however i am thinking of adding some kind of small envelope w/ like journaling cards to list each city, year and reason for visit.
there are a few states that i don't have pins in taht i have technically been to. but it's just states that i passed through on my way to another state and didn't stop there besides spending the night in a hotel or grabbing something to eat. so for this project i chose not to include them.
part of this project is to encourage myself to get out and visit the remaining states i haven't visited. in case you can't tell from the pics, i've been to 16 states and have also been to washington d.c.
here are the 16 states i've visited:
arizona - flagstaff, grand canyon, phoenix
arkansas - too many to list!
florida - destin, panama city, orlando, cocoa beach
illinois - mt carmel
iowa - des moins
kansas - wichita
kentucky - benton, paducah, shepherdsville
michigan - trenton, detroit, warren, sterling heights, port huron, sault st marie, most northern point (unsure of city name)
missouri - branson, kansas city, st. louis, columbia
new mexico - carlsbad, santa fe
new york - niagara falls
north carolina - high point
oklahoma - too many to list!
tennessee - memphis, nashville, knoxville, chattanooga
texas - dallas, tyler, san antonio
virginia - charlottesville, alexandria
~ jess
Hey!! The most northern point in MI is called Copper Harbor :) I remember when we went that year! -Amy
ReplyDeleteLove this idea. I've tried a few different times to organize some sort of book, poster, project, etc to show the states, our family has visited, but without any lucy. this looks great. I would love to put something like this up. I have a cabinet, that I keep all our souvenirs in, above it would be a great place for something like this.
ReplyDeleteThis would have been awesome when I was raising my sons and trying to get them interested in geography. The boring old tyvek map never got them excited. I love the patterned paper choices!
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