I love to travel. When I was a young child, my parents took me all over the United States visiting friends and family. Before I finished my teenage years, I had visited almost all 50 states. When my oldest daughter was born, I wanted to share my love of traveling with her too. Before she turned two, she had visited 13 states. I wanted to document what states she had been to in a fun way.

Staples prints “engineer prints” for only a few dollars. I printed an outline of the United States in a poster size of 24 X 36 inches. You can download the FREE printable here: USA Map Printable

I had two copies printed, and used one for a template to cut out my photos. First I cut out each state.

I used the cutouts of the states to trace over photos. Each photo was of the first time my daughter visited the state.

Next I got a poster frame – these are generally cheaper than an art frame of this size. Mine cost about $11/each.

I took the frame apart and used the cardboard backing to adhere to the other copy of the map I had printed.

I used adhesive spray to spray the cardboard and pressed the paper map down carefully over top. Make sure it’s straight and no bubbles so you have a smooth finish! I did one half at a time to make sure the paper didn’t move too much while I was doing it and had a straight finished product.

I used glue-stick to paste the photos into the respective state.

To make it even more creative, I added the date when my daughter first visited the state.

I hung the map on my toddler’s wall, she loves looking at it and pointing out different states and the people in them.