DIY Latitude & Longitude Distance Board

Today is an extra special day! (And no, not because it’s National Signing Day…) Today is my incredible boyfriend’s birthday! Without Ilir, this blog probably wouldn’t even exist, so today’s post is dedicated to him! I can’t even tell you how often he encouraged me to start a blog, and now that I’ve launched it, I can’t tell you how many times he has asked me what he can do to help. Thank you so much for the support, Ilir! Happy birthday!

First, a little background for you: Ilir and I have been together for going on five years, all of which have been long-distance. It is safe to say I have had a lot of practice in trying to come up with creative long-distance gift ideas. I made this gift for Ilir as his going-away gift when his job took him to South Carolina (and the distance between us got substantially further)! My latitude and longitude distance board is a gift I’ve gotten a lot of questions and comments on, so I wanted to make a post explaining how to create it! It is such a fun gift for any loved one who is separated from you by a little distance!

Materials:

Printer
Paper
Glue stick
Scissors
Decorative clips (found at Michael’s)
Hot glue and a hot glue gun
Unique mounting board (also found at Michael’s, my home away from home)
Neutral-colored scrapbook paper
Optional: Frame that coordinates or contrasts with your board

First, to make the map background, I saved my town’s map and Ilir’s town’s map and inserted them into a document, putting them side-by-side. To keep consistency between the images, I used the same site to pull the two maps. I stumbled across TopoQuest and loved the vintage look of their maps!

Once I saved the two images, I laid them next to each. To find your latitude and longitudes, you can use a site such as LatLong.net. Super easy! I laid my text on top of the images and printed it out!

Next, I cut out the printed map and glued it on to a piece of scrapbook paper that I cut to fit the proportions of my mounting board. Adding in this piece of scrapbook paper just gives your board a bit of texture and depth. Glue the paper on to the mounting board and then, using your hot glue, add the clip decoration on to your board.

Note: Make sure the clips you buy are not real clips! You can find decorative clips that glue on to a flat board in the scrapbooking section (see picture below).

That’s it! If you’re feeling extra crafty, you could make a frame to either coordinate with or contrast with your distance board. Ilir went from living in Galesburg to Spartanburg, hence the “from one Burg to the next.”