Crafty Week, Day #6 - Map

My pal Jenny and I found an interesting antique store in Vernon, Indiana a few months ago.  The owner was a nice old guy who followed us all around the store, commenting on all his stuff.  At first, we were afraid he thought we might steal something, but then realized that he just likes to talk!  Jenny and I both bought bottle cappers, and I found a US school map that was in pretty bad shape, but so colorful.  I patched it up and tried to hang it.  I used a curtain rod and rolled it around the rod, hoping to make it look like a pull-down map.  

Fail.
It looked all wrong, and the stresses of hanging made the map tear in all new places.

So then I remembered I had a huge canvas in the basement (thank you, 40% off at Hobby Lobby!) waiting for an inspired project.  The map almost fit -- I trimmed the edges to make it the right width, but it was a bit short, height wise.  So, I painted the canvas with blackboard spray paint and left a margin at the bottom to write on.  Then when the canvas was completely dry, I Mod Podged the map onto the canvas.

Yikes.  That was the hardest Mod Podge project ever.  I should have cut the map into sections and done them one strip at a time, like wallpaper, but I didn't think of that until it was too late, and I was ass over teacups trying to get this map straight on the canvas.  Don't look too close-- it's not perfect.

Then, I was getting ready to take the curtain rod down, Maggie suggested I try hanging the canvas from it.  I happened to have some old belt webbing, so I made some loops and staple-gunned them on.

I love chalkboards and writing with chalk.  I loved it before it was a thing.  And man, is it a thing.

In our living room, we have a chalkboard to tell where in the world Clay is.  This week:

Last October, it was this:

So on the US map, I chalked in this:

If you want your chalkboard to be all straight and fancy, you can use your Word program to print off your words (in the size you want them), then rub some chalk on the back of the page.  Put your words where you want them on the chalkboard, then trace over the letters with a pencil -- it will leave the chalked impression on your board, and you can fancy it up from there.  (I didn't do that on the South Africa flag -- I just used my finger and a wet washcloth.  Not fancy.)

Here is my favorite pinterest chalk post:

That's all -- just use a sharpener.  Genius.  Thanks to Danielle from Sweet Pea Pod. 

Peace.