Anniversary Gift DIY

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I love giving thoughtful gifts to my husband for our anniversary, but often times I have a hard time coming up with something that isn’t too cheesy. At my sister’s house the other day, I stumbled upon this frame she had made for her husband. Perfect! She said she saw a similar idea on Pinterest and decided to make it herself. I’m going to give you step-by-step instructions of how to do it yourself.

Because of copyright laws, I couldn’t make it a printable for you {darn huh?!} BUT it is super easy and can be done in a word processing program…NO PHOTOSHOP NEEDED!

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SUPPLIES NEEDED:

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

  • Step 1: Go to the New York Public Library Digital Gallery and in the “Search” bar on the right side of the screen type in what map you would like. I did a United States Map but you could search for an individual state, world map, or a different country.
  • Step 2: Scroll through the pages of search results and select a map to your liking.
  • Step 3: Right click on the image and save it to your computer.
  • Step 4: Open up your word processing program (I am using Microsoft Word). Insert a photo by picking the selected map you saved to your computer.

  • Step 5: Once you have your map, you’ll want to resize it to the size you want. I chose to do mine as a 5×7 photo.
  • Step 6: {Optional!} I chose to crop the border on my image. You can do this in the photo formatting options. Just make sure your picture is selected and then look for the ‘crop’ option in your tools bar.
  • Step 7: Insert word art. You can choose what you write, what color you want the font, and anything else. I just played with mine until I liked the font and thought it looked readable. I also adjusted mine to have the words a little lower on the map because I knew my hearts would be in the center and above.
  • Step 8: Once you have it the way you like it, print. Cut it to fit the frame.
  • Step 9: Grab a red sharpie and draw in small hearts in the places you’ve lived. {You could also do this as a long distance relationship OR places you’ve traveled.)
  • Step 10: Put it in a frame and wrap it up to give to your honey!

Such an easy and thoughtful idea that is sure to make your spouse smile. Like I said before it could be great for long distance relationships, places you’ve traveled together, or an anniversary! The options are endless.

DIY Anniversary Gift

Erika

I married the love of my life and enjoy being with him and our son. We love to try new things - traveling, food, games, and everything in between.

Learn more about Erika
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Recent Comments

  1. Love this idea! 15 yr anniversary this week and want to give him 15 little gifts/cards/notes. I had a challenge using your link – too many items and no world maps i could use – but google images worked well and was quick to search for unlabeled maps. thanks!

  2. So cute! I think I’m going to make this as a wedding gift for my Air Force fiance. 🙂 What type of paper did you use? I really like the brown more than just plain white printer paper. Thanks!

  3. So cute! My hubs is in the military and I want to send this to him for our anniversary.

    I’d love to not have the state names and roads like yours in the final one but I’m having trouble finding that!

  4. Can you be more specific on what map you used in these pictures? I typed in United States Map and I am getting a lot of maps that are labeled. My husband is in the military and this would be so fun to add to the scrapbook I am making of his time in the military 🙂

  5. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! You are a lifesaver. This is our 2nd Christmas exchanging “gifts from the heart” within the immediate family (aka–homemade gift that’s special to the recipient but also very budget friendly). This year I drew my husband’s name. UGH! was my first reaction. I couldn’t think of anything really special that I could make. I was down to telling him I’d do his household chores for the next month as my gift. Then just this morning I came across this via a post by Dating Divas listing last minute hubby gift ideas. Whoo hoo! He’s getting this AND a coupon booklet. The coupon booklet is MUCH nicer than me just telling him I’ll do his chores. Plus, I can add other things too. 🙂

  6. i totally loveee this idea! i’m going to revamp it and just use a single state though! my boyfriend and i met in college and live pretty far away from each other (for the time being) now that we’re both graduated. i’m totally using this idea! i’m going to put a heart in the places where we both live and a heart where we went to college, and perhaps throw a corny quote about distance on there and give it to him for his birthday, ahh! i loveee this!

    1. I am going to do something similar. A blue heart where he grew up, a pink heart where I grew up and a red heart where we live now. Then whenever we move I can add a red heart. It is only our 2nd anniversary so it will be fun to add as we go. We are both soccer coaches so I am sure we will be moving around whether it be soon or in a while. Thanks for the idea!

  7. Oh, I love this!!! I’m also a milspouse, so I’ll have lots of little red hearts. If you wanted to do this just for meaningful “family” decor, you could use the phrase “It doesn’t matter where you go in life, it’s who you have beside you” (I saw that on a little sign once and have wanted to incorporate it somehow since then!)

  8. Ooh, or you could do like where you met, where you got engaged/married, then all the places you’ve lived in if you haven’t moved around that much… I love this!

  9. This is such a great idea. We have been in the Military, (Coast Guard) for 26 year, so that has meant 11 different stations for us. That should make for a colorful map:) Just in time for our 33rd anniversary, in Oct. Thanks for the idea!

  10. This is GREAT for military couples 🙂 I have something similar pinned already since we move around with the Navy, but this is a much more concise version (the other involved multiple frames with map “snapshots” of the different states/cities, etc) and easier to add on to and pack up when it’s time to move again! THANK YOU!!!

  11. Fantastically cleaver… as always, miss Erika! Love it! Now that we are moving again… I will have to make this for my husband.

  12. What size is 5×7 … and how did you get rid of the names of the state. I am having trouble. I can’t open the picture in word so I have to open it up in photoshop. Thank for the help.

    1. Hey Collen, I didn’t use the same map in the tutorial as I did in the final product. So…I didn’t have to get rid of the names. If you don’t want the state names, I’d suggest starting with a map that doesn’t have the names on them. And it is 5 inches x 7 inches photo. Should be pretty easy to do in photoshop, I just wanted to do it in Word because most people don’t have Photoshop. Good luck!

  13. Oooh, I love it! So darling and so simple, I am going to pin it for our next anniversary, but I may not be able to wait until then.

  14. Oooh, I love it! So darling and so simle, I am going to pin it for our next anniversary, but I may not be able to wait until then.