A lot of people have asked me what our plan is for the nursery and what crafts / projects I had up my sleeve for that room. To be honest, with the renovation going on I hadn’t really thought much about the room outside of knowing what color the walls and new floors would be.

I did know I wanted to incorporate some maps into the room (because I love a good map) and when I saw some paper mache letters at Hobby Lobby one day, the idea for my first nursery craft came to me..

DIY Map Covered Letters

What you’ll need:

• Paper mache letters (similar to these, but taller)
• Maps!
• Scissors
• Mod podge
• Sponge brush

Like I mentioned, I found these letters at the craft store and they were only $2-3 dollars each. Perfect to stand on their own, or add a hanger to the back if I wanted to hang them on the wall.

Now to decide what maps I wanted to decoupage onto the letters! Since there were 4 letters, each one had a theme of places that meant something to us: Charleston, Hunter, Kelley, other.

I printed off some nautical maps (on regular computer paper) of Charleston to represent where we met, where we live and where we were married. Hunter’s letter included Spartanburg (where he grew up) and Clemson. Mine included Peachtree City (where I grew up). I also printed maps from trips that we’ve been on together like Jamaica, Napa, Boston, Tampa, Hilton Head, etc.

Then I arranged the maps on each letter to figure out where I wanted each to go and cut / folded them to prep them to be decoupaged. This isn’t an exact science – you just kinda fold around the letter and cut the map so you’re able to fold it in the corners. You can see what the bottom of one of the L’s looked like below.

Apply some Mod Podge to the back of the map and then apply it to the letter, using more Mod Podge as needed so it sticks and doesn’t come up when folded down.

Since I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the letters yet, I wanted each side (except the back) to be covered in case it’d be visible, I cut pieces from scrap maps and applied them to the sides.

When all the sides are covered in maps, apply a light coat of Mod Podge on top of the maps to seal them in. Set the letter aside to dry and work on your next one.

Once the letters have dried, you’re done!

I’m really excited with how the letters turned out! I purposely chose some of the nautical and topographic maps based on the color schemes so the entire letter was similar and overall the full name would look good together.

Now I just need to decide what to do with the letters in the nursery! Considering that room is down to dry wall and sub floor right now, I have some time, haha. Floors go down this week and the paint and trim should be done pretty soon after, so we’ve been putting together a design board for the room and will start filling it soon!