Map

I left off last time by showing you some of the clip art I had chosen for our maps. Once I got an idea of what kind of design I was going for things seemed to go right along. I began by putting both our wedding location into Google maps. Once I had an idea of what the map layout would look like I began to decide what part of the map I wanted to concentrate on.

Since I didn’t really know how Illustrator really worked I printed out the map and traced it over with a pen and paper. Once I had it traced I scanned it into my computer. (I later found out that I could have done that with Illustrator by adding a layer to it and then removing it when I was done.) I guess I like to make things complicated so I learned by trial and error.I showed my FI this outline and he was confused but later loved my creativity. This is the part that Illustrator came in handy because I used it to color in stuff and move things around. I added color alright, so much that it seemed like Kermit was splattered all over the map. Once I had the color in place I added our names in the font that matched our invitations. Like I previously mentioned I went color crazy and a day later decided that it was too much.

I decided to scale it back and only add burst of color to it. I went ahead and left our names added some clip art colored it in and viola our DIY maps were done. Nothing super fabulous but simply a glimpse of the distance between the ceremony and the reception. In the back I added actual directions to the reception. The only paper I had on hand was 100% cotton paper which is what I used. The measurements that I ended up printing out was 4×6.

I’m wearing glasses on our wedding date so I went ahead and added some to the bride and since our hair color is black I also changed that.

Our colors are blue and orange so I used both of those colors as splashes of hues to make things stand out.

This is my DIY map with fwy signs and everything. Just a simple example of what can be created with Illustrator’s free trial version. I’ve used the couple in more DIY things I will share with you at another time.

What do you think? Do you get that the bells are the ceremony (in case the kissing couple didn’t give it away) and the wine glasses are the reception? Are you doing your own maps?

Now that the invites were sent off and I have more time on my hands and I can tell you about my adventures with Illustrator. After going to a wedding in the beginning of June I realized how useful the Map/Direction insert included in the invitation is. Val, my MOH, drove us to the wedding and although she had a navigation system in her car we relied on the map to get us there. It was clear that I wanted a map with my invitations as well. I knew I could came up with something spectacular (okay maybe not that professional but you get the point) in the likes of one of my favorite calligraphers Laura Hooper or perhaps one like Crystal Kluge. I’m not trying to show off or anything but I do posses some ability with a calligraphy pen and after taking countless art classes I to can dabble with that as well or at least that’s how the conversation went in my head. After thinking about the priorities for the wedding it seemed that my attention was required elsewhere. I decided to do a “quick” DIY map using illustrator but the problem was first trying to figure out how to use the program itself.

Here are two examples of what I was first thinking about and decided not to do:

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Once I decided to play with the actual layout of the design I began to look up some clip art that I would be able to incorporate into it.

Here are a couple of the ones I chose:

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Finding cute designs was more difficult than putting together the whole map. I thought I was going to save time by using clip art instead of actually drawing things myself. I will continue my adventure with Illustrator on a different day.

What do you think of my clip art so far? Are you including a map in your invitations?

Sweets and Life

DIY maps Pt. 2

Illustrator + Patience = DIY Maps Pt.1