Love Location

Happy Anniversary Daniel! 

This little DIY is my anniversary present to my darling husband. For those of you who don't know we got married 6/21/10 (more on that later) and honeymooned on the absolutely gorgeous desert island of Providenciales (part of the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean) which is, indecently, the island in the painting.

I came across the idea when Sherry from Young House Love pinned this etsy artist's work. I absolutely loved the idea! I was skeptical that I could pull it off because I'm not much of an artist, but it turned out that it actually was really easy to create.

Materials

• Blank Canvas (I chose 8x8 because I liked how cute and little it looked)
• Paint for the background
• Card stock (one piece for the land mass and some red to make the heart)
• Paint brushes
• Matte Modge Podge
• Outline of location of your choice (needs to be an outline if you do it my way)

Step 1: Paint canvas all one color. I chose this in Island Blue

Step 2: Find picture of your favorite location and open in any document editing software (word, paint, anything so you can manipulate the image.

Step 3:  Reverse the image using your computer. The reason I did this was because I didn't want any lines to show after I cut it out. 

The way the island is actually oriented

Flipped backwards

Step 4: Spread a thin layer of Modge Podge on canvas and place land mass where you like it (flipped the right way again). Be sure to carefully smooth the paper down so there are no bubbles. Then cover the whole thing in Modge Podge to seal it in. 

Step 5: Place your little heart wherever it is important to you. Mine is in about the same location as where our hotel was.

Step 6: Apply one last coat of Modge Podge and let dry. 

(Another way that might work for you more artsy people out there would be to basically create a stencil and use adhesive to hold the land mass in place while you painted the rest of the canvas and then peel it away to reveal the shape after. Might work but I wasn't feeling up to it)

This would be great for a vacation memory, wedding, birth place, really anything special. You could even do a fun road trip one that went all over with lines connecting. Since I don't really work making special presents is always something I try to do for each occasion (I still feel weird buying him a present with his money :-P). And, since paper is the proper gift for a first anniversary I thought it fit. I gave it to him early and he loved it. He even guessed where it was immediately! And best of all it will be a reminder to us