Mod Podging Maps

Ok, so I have to tell you about this amazing craft that I saw on Pinterest and just had to try.

Since money is tight at our house, I decided to make Nathan (my brother who is now 14) a gift, rather than spending money. Now, he is a Lord of the Rings FANATIC! He has seen the movies a gazillion times, so I knew that I had to do something to do with that. When I saw this though,  I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

I went online and searched for Lord of the Rings maps. Now, I am telling you, this was not an easy thing to do! I had to find maps that were decent quality and size, so that if needed I could blow them up bigger. I didn't care if they were black and white, color toned, or sepia because you can always use Picmonkey if needed to alter the appearance of the photo.

I finally found 5 that I sort of liked... I printed them off, and narrowed it down to three.

The Realm of Middle Earth 

I then used Picmonkey and altered the background... so they then looked like the following (the large map I kept the same)

Mordor Before and After

Thror's Map Before and After

Thank goodness I somehow made them look alright, and printing them actually made it look better.

Alright, next step, I had to find the canvases to put them on. I decided to use 8"x10" for Mordor and Thror's Map. I wanted to have one bigger map, so I got a canvas that was 11"x14" and went to my church to print the map out onto an 11"x17" page. It took a few tries until I had it the size and shape that I wanted it (had to shrink the shape a tad bit) to be.

After all that, the rest was easy. I did a wash of a yellowish brown color on the background of the canvases, just to give it the aged appearance. Once that was dried I spread Mod Podge all over the canvas with my paint brush and placed my maps down on the canvas, spreading them out, erasing any bubbles. I actually ripped the edges of my maps to give it an interesting look, but you don't have to do that.

To make it even more aged, I spread the top coat of Mod Podge on before the bottom coat was dried, therefore getting the paper too wet, causing it to fade and wrinkle a tad bit. Here is the finished product, and I must say I am extremely happy with it, and so was Nathan... and every other person I showed it to haha.

The Perfect Gift,
Not-So-Princess Lizzy