The Letter E ~~Map Style~~

E as in Edna, Eloise, Eileen, Eleanor, Edwina, and Ellen!

 

I started with a 25 cent letter E from the thrift store…traced around it onto a map and cut out the map.

My letter was white so I just glued on the map with Mod Podge…

My tracing didn’t exactly fit my letter (of course!)

So I took some sandpaper and trimmed the edges that way…

Just sanded them off and

even took some of the paint off as well.

The next step was easy…I added a few drops of acrylic paint to the Mod Podge and covered the map.  So you get a white washed look (except with blue of course!). 

I painted the edges with a shade darker blue and it’s all done!

Here is my E wall…I keep adding them as I find them, either thrifted or gifted or found on sale (like the dark blue/turquoise one on the dresser).

Looking pretty good!  The little blue jewelry chest is my latest chalk paint project. 

I love the piggy mama and babies that my niece Ruth gave me…they sit on top of my dresser to keep watch!  They came from Italy!

I may be linking to these great parties!

Paris Love

For Jess’s birthday I made this LOVE project.  I used a new map of Paris…couldn’t find an old one although I looked for several months. 

I used Mod Podge to attach the map to 8 inch paper mache letters , smoothing the edges and trimming as I went…I used plain brown Kraft paper for the back to make it look professional.

I tried to be sure I included all the places Jess and Mike went on their trip to Paris.  You can see the Eiffel tower on the L!

I love how it looks in the nook Jess created! 

I am thinking of covering an E for my letter wall in my bedroom with a Connecticut map since that is where I was born.  And maybe make an S letter covered in a Missouri map for my son’s room.  The possibilities are endless!

I might be linking to some of these great parties.

Decorating my new office

Back in October while I was on my Connecticut vacation, my office moved to a new building.  It is my fourth office in the almost two years I have worked here.  The fun part was that I got to decorate it all my self.  It came with cream colored walls and one mauve wall'; I put my ginormous bulletin board on the that mauve wall (to hide the color). 

 

I moved a few pictures over from my old office, like the one you see in the mirror above I made from paint chips a few years ago.  You can go here to see that project.

I now have a nice bookcase, but very few books to put in in so I organized it with baskets and of course have quite a few things to show off on those shelves!

Here’s the paint chip wall hanging in its corner, and the birds nest wall hanging I found at Goodwill for $3.  I was thrilled and it is in excellent shape! 

Sam got me these two canvases for Christmas (he gave them to me in October) and the mirror is a  $1 thrift store find.

I love this saying….

Here’s the birds nest from Goodwill and above it is a canvas that I Mod Podged a printed 8.5 x 11 paper onto.  It turned out nicely. 

I made this chalkboard from a pretty picture frame I found at Goodwill…really I do shop other places, but love the thrift stores.

I thought it looked kinda plain so I added some grey and blue flowers, wool of course! 

The lamp was only $15 at the Salvation Army store in town, perfect for the desk.  I like to have all sorts of inspirational quotes and pictures, I do spend 9 hours a day in this spot, so it may as well suit me!  It has been fun to put it all together…

I am linking to these great parties…

Map Lampshade

I have had this lamp forever…think I bought it at an auction…it’s one of a kind, I use it in my bedroom on my nightstand.

I used old maps and pieced them to cover the shade, using Mod Podge to attach the paper.

I think I used the New York page and the Missouri map, you may have noticed…yup, that is St. Louis snuggled right up to New York.

The lampshade didn’t take very long…I put some narrow black velvet ribbon around the top and bottom.

Isn’t this shell cool?  I love the colors!

I am linking to these great parties!