Inspiration: DIY

I'm so excited about this week's Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop because the prompt is DIY. I'm looking forward to viewing all the other entires and getting lots of fun do-it-yourself craft ideas! My favorite DIY project -- a photo frame with a map-covered mat -- is perhaps the easiest I've done. I made it a couple years ago and I can't remember where I got the idea... a magazine, I think.

Simply buy a photo frame that comes with a mat (I love Hobby Lobby's frame sales... sigh, too bad we don't have a Hobby Lobby in Hawaii!); I chose an 8x10 frame matted for a 5x7 photo. Then take a map that's got some significance to you and use an X-acto knife to cut it to fit the mat. Use a glue stick or double-sided tape to affix the map to the mat and, voila, you have a super-cool picture frame!

I used a park map from Rocky Mountain National Park because the photo is from a hike Jarrod and I did there and I made sure that our hike  (Bear Lake) made it onto the mat. You could use a national park map like I did, a city or state map, a map from a zoo or amusement park -- the possibilities are endless!