Maps of Home: Made From Sand & Stones

My son and daughter sadly both live far away in another part of Canada and I wanted to create a small keepsake from home for them.

First off I started with a map of Newfoundland that I traced onto some tracing paper to fit within the shadow box frame.

Next I outlined the map onto some water colour paper and began to glue small stones on the outline of the map. I had collected them from along the shoreline and thought to use the various shapes to fill in the map as you would do a puzzle.

Now on with filling in the center and last I drew a heart with a red marker on the map that's represents the location our home.

Here it is below displayed in the shadow box frame beside a small basket of driftwood pieces that were found along our beaches.

The next one for my daughter I created a little differently, she loves the beach so I chose to use sand for her map.

First I spread Aleenes Tacky Glue all over the map outline using a small artists brush to get into the smaller outcrops. While the glue is wet sprinkle a light layer of sand over the project. I then lifted the paper and tapped the back of it to pour the excess sand back into my dish. At this stage if there are any blanks areas where the sand didn't cover the paper, gently add more glue in those spots and repeat adding more sand and shake off afterwards. I let the map dry on a flat surface overnight just to be sure.

I used a watercolor paper and I thought it would make the map stand out more if the ocean surrounding the island was colored. For this I used an artist brush and blue paint and some water to thin the paint. By using watery paint the water colour paper creates varying tones of the blue after it has dried.

To complete the map of her home I added a red heart shaped button to highlight home, afterall "Home is where the heart is".

These maps are easy to create for any outline but these of course are specific to where we live. They became great souvenirs for my children who now have a small piece of home that they took with them to display wherever they roam.