Instead of tossing that old map that, make a paper garland to preserve your memories!
Don’t you just love old maps? Whether they’re from a town where you used to live or a special road trip, maps remind us of where we’ve been. Next time you discover an old map, you can make a paper garland instead of tossing it in the recycle bin. What I love best about this project is that it’s super simple, and it’s scalable. I used 7 hearts to decorate a wall shelf, but you could cut out dozens and make one to hang all the way across a wall! Recycling paper is definitely better than sending it to the landfill, but it’s not a perfect solution. Recycling paper takes energy and produces greenhouse gas emissions. When you use any reclaimed paper in your crafts – maps included – you’re avoiding the energy associated with both recycling that piece of paper and with creating new paper to craft with. Hurrah for reuse!
Make a Paper Garland from an Old Map
Materials
reclaimed map – either one that you have laying around the house, from the thrift store, or from your local Creative Reuse Center embroidery needle and thread – the length of thread depends on how long you want your garland nails or clothespins, to hang your garland
Directions
- Cut out your hearts. I cut mine out freehand, and they’re about 2″ wide by 1.5″ tall. If you want your hearts to be uniform, cut a heart out of some reclaimed cardboard, like an old file folder, and use it to trace the hearts onto your map.
- Grab your needle and thread and your first heart. To string your garland, start by pushing the needle through the heart from the back, about 1/2″ from the left side and 1/2″ from the top. Then, push the needle through the front of the same heart 1/2″ from the right side and 1/2″ from the top.
- Repeat step 2 with the rest of your hearts, until you have them all strung, making sure to leave a 3″ tail on either end of your garland, so you can string it up. You can arrange your hearts in a few different ways. You can space them out evenly or have them slightly overlap. With my garland, I started the hearts out overlapping and gradually spaced them more from left to right.
- To hang your garland, you can tie the tails onto nails or use clothespins to clip them up.
