DIY- Your Home Is Where The Heart Is

I've thought about purchasing prints from Lily Gene for quite some time now. They are a great price at only $25 and they look clean and professional.

I know my husband and I will do a bit of state hoping over our life together and I thought having pictures of the states and cities where we've lived would be a fun timeline to display on a wall in our home.

The other night, I was cleaning out my supplies closet and decided I would try to make my own I-Heart-My-State print with a left over 8x10 canvas.

I googled my states I wanted and printed them off. I chose Utah (where we currently live) and Missouri (where we are moving in 2 months)

I taped the printed state to the back of the canvas and then held it up to the window and traced the state with a pencil. The Utah one I used a lamp because the sun had already set.

I then chose my colors and got to painting. I did one coat of the background and then did a coat of white filling in the traced state. I then did another coat of each and let it all dry.

Lastly, I grabbed a fine tipped red Sharpie and drew a heart in the location of the city we live in and will live in when we move to Missouri. The first try I was able to get perfectly shaped hearts, but the size what a bit small. I tried making the hearts a bit bigger and ended up with some not-so-perfect hearts.

Here's the final look:

Now here is what I am really excited about, On the back of each I have a 3x5 card that I've written all the important dates that have happened in our lives while we have lived in each location. For the Utah canvas, I have listed mine and my husband's graduation dates, our wedding date, etc. On our future states I will list birth of each children, Law School Graduation, new jobs, etc. I think it will be a really fun thing for our family to have as we grow.