Gettin' crafty on a Saturday: Love for our home states

I picked up two 8x10 frames at Ikea a few weeks ago with the plan that I would hang some sweet prints from Etsy in our 1/2 bathroom that we've been working on. While playing on Pinterest, I came across this image of Arizona and Louisiana that was gifted to a couple for their wedding. 

The project I found on Pinterest

I immediately fell in love with the print and started searching Etsy for similar state love prints for New York and Georgia, which ran from about $15-$30. I found a few that I liked, but none seemed to pop out at me and none made me want to actually pull the trigger and purchase. So I sat on the idea and waited while occasionally going back to the cute image that I pinned a few weeks ago. 

This morning, while staring longingly at the print, I decided to click the link to see where this image came from beyond the world of Pinterest, which took me to the tutorial on how the girls that created the print made it. They made it and they were providing me with instructions on how to make one, too! Mind blown!

I read through the instructions and realized I literally had all of the supplies to make this print. (Thank you, crafty wedding!) A zero cost project!! (With exception to the  two frames that were $4.99 a piece, but like I said, I bought them a few weeks ago, so the cost wasn't weighing heavily on me. 

Our wedding favor boxes

How I did it: I found outline maps of Georgia and New York on the internets and printed them out on white 4.5x6.25 card stock that I had leftover from the wedding. Using my Exacto knife from my art class in college and my $1 cutting mat that I picked up a year ago, I carefully cut along the inside of the borders. Then, I cut some craft paper-colored card stock in half to use as the background for the image. I centered each state over the card stock and picture matting that came with the frame and glued it down using my glue stick. Then, I inked the small left over hearts from my paper punch heart that was used in our wedding truffle boxes with ruby red ink pad and glued them down where the Albany and Atlanta are supposed to be on the map. Then I just popped them each into a frame. They're ready to be hung in the 1/2 bathroom, which I'll finally reveal later this weekend.

A little Georgia and New York love

Teensy tiny hearts

What do you think? I'm kinda in love with them! It was so simple to do, as well. Both states took me less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Le sigh. They also might become a new go-to wedding or house warming present for our friends and family. Lucky ducks!