Pillar Box Blue

You are here: Home / Maps / How To Make Repurposed Map Decorations

How To Make Repurposed Map Decorations

by 53 Comments

DIY Christmas Map Decorations with Ornaments and Garlands

I don’t know what it is about old maps but I just love their lovely muted colours and the slightly yellow thick paper they are printed on. This year I decided to add to my Christmas ornaments with some gorgeous repurposed map decorations.
 
Maps add interest to Christmas decorations. They can be personalised if you use maps of places that are special to you, such as your hometown or favourite holiday destinations.
 
I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to old maps. They are really easy to find in your local charity (thrift stores). Some of the older roadmaps are often printed on a woven paper.
 
If you are looking for a more Christmassy feel for your decorations try to find old maps that have a lot of red and green on them. On most maps, the roads are marked with red ink and the open spaces with green ink.
 
These gorgeous map decorations are really easy and fun to make. You can string them up in a lovely garland or hang them individually as ornaments.
 
Upcycle and repurpose old road maps to make unique map decorations. Make a Christmas ornament or a gorgeous garland to decorate your home. #mapdecoarations #mapcrafts #christmascrafts #christmasdecoration #mapchristmas
 
 
This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my disclosure policy.
 
 

What You Need To Make Map Decortaions

 
 

How to Make Map Decorations

  1. First using the xlarge squeeze punch, punch out lots of circles from the roadmap. You will need six circles for every map ornament.
     

    2.  
     

     
     

  2. Next, fold each circle in half making a semi circle (6 for each ornament). If your maps are only printed on oneside make sure the printed map on the inside of your semi circle, as this is the bit of the map that will be visable.
     
    Folded map circles for decorations

    3.  
     

  3. Using the Pritt (glue) stick, apply glue to the outside of one map semicircle and stick it to the outside of another. Carry on doing this until you have a stack or six semi-circles.
     
    Glued map semi circles.

    4.  
     

  4. Open out your paper ornament, you should have a ball like shape. Before glueing the 2 ends together to complete the circle, decide whether you are going to hang them as ornaments or in a garland.
     
    Paper Map Christmas Ornaments

    5.  
     

    Making map garlands..

  5. To make map decorations garlands. Place bakers twine in the map ornament before glueing the ends together. Then repeat this at regular intervals along the twine, until you have a long enough garland.
     


     

    6.  
    Upcycle old road maps to make a gorgeous DIY map decorations in the form of a garland.
     
    Upcycle old road maps to make a gorgeous DIY map decorations in the form of a garland.
     
     

    Making map ornaments..

  6. To turn the paper map balls into a hanging ornament, simply make a tassel out of the embroidery thread add some decorative beads and a hanging loop before gluing the paper ball shut.
     

 
Repurpose old road maps to make a gorgeous map Christmas ornament complete with tassel.
 
 
Not sure how to make a tassel here’s a simple graphic showing how.

 

 
 
Upcycle and repurpose old road maps to make unique map decorations. #mapdecoarations #mapcrafts #christmascrafts #christmasdecoration #mapchristmas
 
 
As I’m such a huge fan of map decorations, I made both map garlands and ornaments to add to my Christmas decorations this year. The ornaments would also make lovely gift toppers especially if you used maps that had some personal significance.
 
 

Repurpose old road maps into unique personailised Christmas ornaments with tassels. #christmasdecorations #christmascrafts #christmasornaments #mapcrafts #mapcraft #mapornaments

 

Repurpose and upcycled road maps and atlas's into a gorgeous festive garland. #christmasgarland #garland #mapcrafts #papercrafts #papergarland #christmascrafts

 
 
Check out my other map Christmas decorations.
 
Maps are a fun way to personalize and add interest to decorations. Here's a free printable and tutorial to make a fantastic 3D Map star Christmas decoration
 
Make a personalised Christmas decoration for your tree with these DIY heart map ornaments. They also make a lovely gift.
 
 
For other map crafts check out favecrafts.com
 
 


 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. These are great Claire, I have a couple of circle punches (from a birthday or Christmas when I was very specific about what I would like) that would be perfect for this. Pinning 🙂

    Reply

  3. Okay, so this is the cutest, quirkiest holiday decor idea! I love the unusual quality of it and, yet, I can’t put my finger on why I love it, but I really, really, do! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂

    Reply

  4. Such a cool idea Claire and I’m in awe of how lovely it looks as a garland. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever met someone who is as creative as you when it comes to maps or denim

    Reply

    • Thank you, Michelle. They are just one of my favourite materials to work with. I think I love maps so much as I have traveled a lot, I was born and brought up in Hong Kong, my parents now live in Portugal, I’m married to a Norwegian and I currently live in the UK.

      Reply

  5. These are wonderful! Thank you for sharing on the Whisk It Wednesday link party at Carrie’s Home Cooking. I hope to see you there again this week! Carrie @ Carrie’s Home Cooking

    Reply

  7. These are really great and you’ve made it so informative/easy to follow. Also, I’ve never seen anything like that extra large hole puncher, how amazing!

    Reply

  15. I think this is such a great idea, I always like to add something on the presents I wrap, and personalising with a specific location map ornament would be so special! And if maps are rare to find, I guess you can do something similar with coloured paper to keep little kids busy (assuming they want to diy their garlands with you hehe).

    Reply

  24. Love this project since I LOVE everything paper! The vintage maps are the best, I’ll have to keep an eye open for some when I shop at antique stores!

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

shares