Travel and Map Projects for Your Home

Reliving your trip once you’ve returned home is just one way to hold yourself over until you can take another. 

One way to keep the memories alive and well is to create your own art pieces for your home from souvenirs, maps, foreign currency and any leftover artifacts.

If you scrapbook your travels, you’ll be a natural at these travel and map projects!

Decoupage Everything

If you ever used Mod Podge in school, you’ll be a pro at these crafts that involve decoupaging maps or travel pictures. Nearly anything can be covered to brighten up your home with reminders of a favorite destination. 

You can attach them to a vintage suitcase you picked up at a thrift store, a lampshade or a picture frame. Cover a simple wooden chair, the top of your coffee table or the back of your bookshelves. Attach them to pieces of wood for easy coasters. 

You can even turn your photos and maps into wallpaper if you have enough.

Some decoupage projects to check out:

• Decorating Frames, Alyssa B. Young
• Map Wallpaper, The Inspired Room

Fabric Transfers

Create pillowcases or coverings for pieces of furniture by doing a transfer onto special paper using your printer. You can either print off a map of a place that’s special to you or make your own collage of travel photos using PicMonkey or Canva. 

Print this design onto photo transfer paper, which costs around $10 for a few sheets from the craft store. (Note: You should reverse your image so that it shows up correctly when transferred.)

You’ll then iron it onto fabric that you’ll transform into a pillow, for example. Give it enough time to cool before peeling back the paper. 

If this sounds like too much trouble, you can upload your photos to websites like Snapfish and Shutterfly to let them do it for you.

Some fabric transfer projects to check out:

• DIY Photo Pillow, The Dating Divas
• Photo Chair Covering, Apartment Therapy

Shadow Boxes & Spare Foreign Change

Create a shadow box for those extra items like ticket stubs and foreign currency. 

For a less involved project that will still look great on your walls, glue all your foreign currency, bills or coins, onto the back of a frame in place of a picture. 

You can also transform foreign coins into magnets or drill holes in them to create unique jewelry.

Some projects to check out:

• What to do with leftover foreign currency, Her Packing List
• Foreign Coin Magnets, Tattered Style

Repurpose Old Luggage & Gear

Rather than toss them, why not upcycle your old items to be used at home?

The old-timey hardcase suitcases are popular items to repurpose. These can be made into side tables, accent chairs, and even pet beds.

For regular old luggage that you’re not using anymore, you can also use them as storage for your travel gear or clothes. The great thing about this is if your luggage has wheels, it’d be a breeze to carry when you need to move houses.

If you have some climbing ropes that you’ve retired, you can also craft with them. They can be made into rugs, hot plate mats, koozies, coasters, or as wall decors.

Some projects to check out:

• Tips for storing your travel gear at home, Her Packing List
• 40 Creative ways of reusing old suitcases, Homedit
• Crafting ideas to repurpose old gear, Nemo Equipment

Photo Books

Let’s be honest, not everyone is good with crafts. It’s a good thing there are plenty of services that will allow you to convert your travel photos into a photo book!

All you need to do is to select the images you want to use for your book, pick a template, layout your book, and set it to publish.

This is a great way for you to look back on past trips and would work great as a coffee table book that is sure to be a conversation starter when you have guests over.

Don’t limit yourself to photo books either. Websites like blurb let you print photos as wall art, and ifolor lets you create calendars, greeting cards, mugs, cell phone cases, mousepads, or even a puzzle!