Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map!
I love me some wedding maps. A quick browse through the blogosphere and you will too.
For example, this map from Laura Hooper has me drooling. Its not just a map, it’s art!
Or this map from Trial By Cupcakes. Amazing!
Sadly, a custom wedding map was, let’s just say, so far outside our budget that it wasn’t even something we were going to think about. Not even a little bit. Not even after I begged J.
Enter the wonderful world of Weddingbee with its amazing tutorials. Where do all these creative ladies come from? It is through them that I discovered, and used, this tutorial for making your own map by Mrs. Ballet Flat (and here’s another good one by Mrs. Spring Roll).
The process is pretty easy, though time consuming, and involves using power point (or photoshop if you have the skills). All you really have to do is cut and paste a map from google or yahoo into a power point frame, and then use the power point tools to “trace” major roads and landmarks over the map. You can use other tools to create “zoom” windows, and add free dingbats or images to complete the look.
Here’s how ours turned out:
Pretty impressive, no? They were, of course, printed at VistaPrint on postcards, and they have hotel information on the back in lieu of traditional postcard backers. And I only spent $6. I should seriously consider being a spokesperson for VP, don’t you think?
I have to say, this tutorial saved me. Originally I had tried printing a tiny map with hotel information on custom-cut (by me) cardstock, but they wouldn’t print properly and ended up looking ridiculously amateurish. I would have been embarrassed to send them. Thankfully, when my invitations arrived, I found the original maps wouldn’t fit in the envelopes. I was saved! Those old maps are now being recycled as scrap paper for grocery lists!
What do you think? Would you make your own map?
Filed under DIY, budget-friendly, invitations, paper | Comment (1)
One Response to “Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map!”
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Sarah I love this! I also fell in love with Laura Hooper’s maps when I was planning and I even contacted her but (fortunately, I guess) she never got back to me. I wouldn’t have been able to afford them and then I would have been sad so I was better off this way. I tried and failed to make my own map by doing all sorts of crazy stuff with Microsoft Paint but I also found it to look stupid and cheezy so I ditched the idea completely. I wish I had known all of this cool stuff so I could’ve done what you did! Oh well. Good job!!