More cheap art: Decorating with maps

Happy weekend, all! I have a three-day weekend because Monday is a holiday here in Maine (and in Massachusetts) called Patriot's Day. Not really sure what it's celebrating, but I'll take it :)

I've got a thing for cheap art, like my DIY paint swatch art hanging in our kitchen. I've also got some wrapping paper art in there too, which you can see here (third photo from the top). And the gallery wall in the kitchen is pretty cost-effective too -- printing photos doesn't cost much, and using frames you already have saves a few bucks too -- but it has a great impact.

Our bedroom is pretty big and so far the walls are mostly empty, except for the HomeGoods mirror I hung over my bureau. I've been dying to get something on the walls, but spending money on art for the bedroom isn't a high priority since right now we're focused on updating the office. (Ugh, I have absolutely no progress to report on that). But I knew I could do something thrifty that would make me happy but wouldn't break the bank.

The inspiration came from our honeymoon. While in Aruba, we did a Harley tour around the island, which was by far one of the highlights of our trip and just a fabulous way to see it all. Our tour guide drew out our route on a map and let us keep it as a souvenir. It was such a fun trip that I knew I wanted to showcase it somehow in our house. And I knew I had more maps lying around.

Since my goal was thrifty art, I scoured Michaels for some cheap-o frames and found these. A pack of two was $7.99 -- even the giant 16" x 20" inch ones! I grabbed a pack of 8" x 10" and 11" x 14".

Then, I gathered my maps. I didn't want to cut them to fit the frame, so I folded them instead, tucking the extra in behind. 

I used the inserts from the frame to test out a few arrangements on the wall, like I did for my gallery wall.

Then, it was time to break out my hammer and nail those puppies up!

Here's the wall before.

Bo-ring!

And with the new art!

So colorful and fun!

I'm sure you're just dying to know more about all these maps....so here goes. Clockwise from the top left...

...A map of Boston. The hubs and I have been a few times together to go to Red Sox games and visit friends. It's such a fun city, and we love it here.

Below that, a map of Dijon, France, where I studied abroad for three-and-a-half months while I was in college. Seriously, one of the best experiences of my life! It was my first time away from home for that long, and my first time abroad (not counting Canada), and it was totally life-changing. My host family's house was right in the center of the city...like about under the first 'e' in "Centre."

Next to that, a map of the Maine Lakes region, where we got married. It came in the chamber's regional guide, which we snagged from a local hotel. I love its whimsical design and the illustrated critters! There's a moose and a fox on the bottom, but sadly I had to crop them out.

I did save the squirrel, though.

We got married at Moose Pond, right in the center of the photo...

And finally, above that, the map of Aruba.

Our hotel was on Palm Beach. Ahhh, the beach. I really miss it...

And a couple more pictures, 'cause I like pictures...

Then, since the wall below looked a little bare, I staged it with the chest and fuzzy throw that usually live at the end of our bed.

And since I took those pictures at night, here's one in the daytime, mostly to show you that our bedroom walls aren't actually that orange...

While maps are pretty and fun to decorate with in their own right, I love how personal these ones are to us. Looking at them will make us remember our wedding, honeymoon, and trips we've taken. I saved some room at the bottom so we can add more -- like a map of our town, and of Quebec City, where we're headed in June to celebrate our first anniversary. The hubs calls it the travel wall. I like it!

Since all the maps were free, this cost me only $16 for the frames. Art that's frugal AND meaningful...that totally turns me on. :)

Want more map decorating ideas? Check out Martha's tips here.

And stop by this link party at A Soft Place to Land specifically for decorating with maps!

Here are the other parties I'm linking up to! Click on the button to stop by and visit!

A low-key bridal shower

Hey all! Hope everyone's week is going well!

As I mentioned on Monday, a friend and I co-hosted a small, laid-back bridal shower on Saturday for another friend. We decided to do a brunch, because, well, what's more fun than brunch? And since we were going for something relaxed, we didn't do a lot of cooking :)

Here's the spread -- a yummy spinach and feta quiche, a selection of divine pastries (both from a local bakery), a scrumptious fruit salad and a mixed greens salad (made by my co-host extraordinaire). And we sipped on sparkling lemonades and mimosas.

Oh, and that adorable tablecloth and coordinating napkins are from Target.

I also made some light and fruity cupcakes. 

I have a confession -- I'm not much of a cook! I'm pretty hit or miss. Anyways, I found an easy-looking Martha Stewart recipe for triple-citrus cupcakes, but they came out like little rocks. Thank goodness for my back-up Duncan Hines! I zested some lemons, limes and oranges and added the zest to the cake mix before baking. I topped them with Martha's citrus glaze and made three flavors -- lemon, lime and orange. They came out yummy and I dare say no one guessed the cake mix came from a box. What can I say? Cakes from scratch just aren't my thing.

I was also in charge of decorations. I made a ton of Martha's tissue paper pom poms for my wedding (and never used them), but I think they are just so flirty and fun. I picked up some light pink tissue paper from Michaels and made some more to go with the white ones I already had. I hung them from the curtain rod over the guest of honor's chair. They remind me of cotton candy!

I also used Martha's monogram labels and some pink and gray ribbon to make some cute favors for our handful of guests. The boxes held colorful scented votives from Target. We lucked out that none of the guests had the same first initial, so it was easy for them to find theirs.

My present to the bride-to-be got its own monogram too.

And I made a super-cute banner using the monogram labels that spelled out the names of the bride and groom, which was hung over the entrance to the dining room and the yummy spread. Buuut...I forgot to take a picture. Must have been that mimosa (or two).

Vases of fresh flowers completed the simple decor.

Thank-you cards for guests to address for the bride-to-be

It was so fun to enjoy a relaxing Saturday chatting with good friends!

A little taste of spring

Howdy! First off, thanks to all your kind comments on our entryway makeover! You're too sweet! We're definitely happy to have that space working better for us.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a busy one: threw a bridal shower for a friend, went to the drive-in restaurant and had some yummy lobster rolls and frappes* with the hubs, did some much-needed cleaning and got to spend a little time outside as the mercury topped 60 degrees -- finally! 

*Don't know what a frappe is? Click here and read the first bullet. And then drool.

Our Sunday gave us a little of this...

and this...

and this.

Confession: I usually drink my margarita out of a pint glass. I don't mess around!

We brought our patio furniture out from exile and back onto the deck -- even though we had to shovel a couple remaining piles of snow to make room for it. And there's still some left in the yard where the sun don't shine.

Oy

I also poked around the garden and was excited to see some things sprouting. Since it's our first spring here, we have no idea what the warm weather will bring in the gardens the previous owner planted. Let's hope I can actually keep them alive!

Daffodils...

??

I can't wait to really get my hands dirty as soon as the weather cooperates. As of last week, it was still getting below freezing here at night, although it should be warmer this week. I hope my little daffodils are tougher than they look!

How was your weekend? Do anything to welcome warmer temps?

The frugal find streak continues...

We must have been flyin' high off the free stuff we scored last week, but the hubs and I walked into Bed Bath and Beyond over the weekend and walked out with this.

Never mind that we were there to buy a present for someone else (don't worry, we did that too!). As soon as we saw this baby in the clearance/as-is section, we looked at each other with starry eyes, like two adorable Japanese anime characters.

We did a lap around the store, picked out what we came for, then came back around to it. We just couldn't pass up this ridiculous discount:

We found out it was on sale because it was bought and put together, and then returned. Oh, and I also had a 20% off one single item coupon, meaning we got this puppy for a mere $70 (not including tax). Woohoo! 

Have you ever shopped the as-is section of BBB? I'm not gonna lie -- it's like a guilty pleasure for me. The stained pillows kind of creep me out, but you can get some great deals on plates and glassware that for some reason have been separated from their sets or were display items. I bought a few dessert plates for like 50 cents each. I also bought a bamboo trash can that was returned because it had a crack in it, which my husband fixed up in no time with a little wood glue.   

But this cabinet was the best find ever. We justified this spur-of-the-moment, not-in-our-budget purchase because we saved ourselves about $130 by rescuing that bookcase out of the dumpster instead of having to buy a new one for our office makeover. And the cabinet is black, meaning it'll go well with our office scheme, which is where we plan to put it.

We're totally excited to have a new home for all our DVDs. Right now we have this rack from Target, which is not super attractive and not big enough. 

We also have DVDs and video games taking up space in this box in the closet...

and here...

and even here. It sure would be nice to consolidate all those movies and games.

Not sure where we'll put the cabinet in the office, though, since it's a couple inches too big to fit where our current DVD rack lives. Right now it's hanging out in the living room, since we're going to be painting the office very soon -- once we pick a color! But I'm not gonna lie -- I'm not hating it here!

We are on a roll with thrifty finds! I feel like we should go buy a lottery ticket or something :)

Anime photo from here.