Map Wreath

I love to decorate with items that evoke memories and maps are a great way to commemorate a favorite location or special place.  With GPS now built right into our smart phones, paper maps seem to be becoming a thing of the past. Before throwing out though, consider upcycling them into a beautiful wreath to decorate your home.

Here’s how:

For the wreath shown above, I used two maps.

First cut maps along the folds.  Then cut in half again.

Hold paper horizontally, with right hand holding upper right corner and left hand holding lower left corner.

Bring corners towards each other and overlap.

Hold the opening of the cone together with your right hand while pulling the paper tight with your left hand to make the cone shape.  This will feel awkward at first but keep at it.  Pretty soon you’ll be able to make them very quickly.

Run a strip of hot glue along the side of the cone to secure.

Once you’ve rolled enough cones, you can begin assembling the wreath.  The wreath that I made took 58 cones so you’ll need lots.

I used a light weight cardboard for the base of this wreath.  I found that a shirt box left over from Christmas worked well but use whatever cardboard you have around the house.  I used plates from my kitchen to trace two circles, one inside of the other, to make a doughnut shape.  Mine measured 9 1/2 inches in diameter.  Use what you have to get the size that you want.

I then cut out the shape and added a hole punch to the top.  Do this now as it’s hard to add the hole and string later.

Next, add the first layer of cones by gluing to the cardboard base.

Glue another layer of cones to this base layer, placing them slightly down closer to the inner circle.  You can stop after two layers or continue on with another layer, depending on what looks best to you.  I’ve made some with two layers and some with three.  You need to step back and evaluate as the process goes on.  In this particular wreath I didn’t like the way the tips of the cones were coming together so I added the third layer to “clean up” the center.  I snipped a little bit of the cone before gluing in.  This is what makes each one unique.  Sometimes adaptation is needed in the creative process (but that’s what makes it fun!).

I’m happy with how it turned out although I think I’m going to make a larger one with maps that my mom just sent to me from my home state of Minnesota.  Can’t wait to get it started!  Hope you try this fun project and hope it brings back lots of good memories in the process!

Elizabeth