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You are here: Home / Maps / How To Make A Personalized Map Decoupage Glass Tray

How To Make A Personalized Map Decoupage Glass Tray

9th May 2018 by Claire Armstrong 28 Comments

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Using Road Maps For A Decoupage Glass Tray

It’s my hubby’s birthday soon, and I never know what to get him. Because if he wants it, he just goes and buys it. I like to make my gifts wherever possible, that’s when I came up with the idea of making him a map decoupage glass tray for his bedside table.
 
When Paul gets ready for bed, he just empty’s his pockets and puts the contents on the bedside table. I thought if he had a glass trinket dish to put all this stuff in, then it was less likely to get knocked off the table.
 
I admit a glass trinket dish is a pretty boring present, but if you personalize it with a map of somewhere special then it becomes something a bit more special.
 
In my collection of old roadmaps, I just happened to have one of the South Coast of England. Paul has often talked of moving to Brighton one day, so I decided to use that map for this decoupage glass tray.
 
As the map looked so good on the decoupaged trinket dish, I made a second one. This time for my dad and I used a map of Antartica upcycled from an old calendar.
 
Map decoupage glass tray
 
 
This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my disclosure policy.
 
 

What you need to make a map decoupage glass tray

  • Small glass tray/plate – If you don’t have one already they are cheap to buy and come in various shapes and sizes. Thrift stores are another good place to find these.
  • Mod podge – or other decoupage glue suitable for glass.
  • Maps – You can normally pick up old road maps at Charity/thrift stores cheaply. I have some free printable vintage maps on my site, (best to print on a laser printer). Or I used an old Cavallini map calendar for the Antartic trinket dish.
  • Rotary cutter and mat

 
Map glass tray cutter and mat
 
 

How to make a Map decoupage glass tray

  1. Before trying to decoupage the glass tray clean it thourghly. I find rubbing alcohol works best for this, failing that you can just use good old soap and water.
  2.  

  3. First place the glass tray ontop of the map you want to use. This will enable you to choose the exact part of the map you want to decoupage.
     
    Placing glass tray on map for decoupage
  4.  
     

  5. Next cut your map to the size of glass tray, allow for the curve. It doesn’t matter if your cut map is fractionally too large as you can always trim any excess off at the end.
     
    Cutting road map to size
  6.  
     

  7. Cover the underside of the glass tray with a layer of decoupage glue. Stick the map face down onto the glue. Pressing down with your fingers and squeezing out any air bubbles to the edge. Scrapping the edge of a credit card accross the back of the map will also help squeeze out air bubbles.
     
    Glueing map to glass tray
  8.  
     

  9. Once the decoupage glue has dried apply another coat this time to the back of the map. This will act as a protective varnish.
  10.  
    Map decoupage glass trinket dish

 
Personalized road map decoupage glass tray
 
 
As I had two of these glass trays, I decoupaged the second one with a map of Antartica, I had on a old calendar.
 
Antarctica calendar  map
 
Antarctica map glass trinket dish upcycle
 

Antarctica map decoupage glass tray
Antarctica map decoupage glass tray

 
 
For more fathers day gift ideas visit allfreeholiday.com
 
 

 
 
 


 
 

 

Filed Under: Crafts, Maps Tagged With: Antartica, decoupage, gift idea, glass tray, map, maps, road map, trinket dish

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Patti Y.

    6th January 2020 at 8:29 am

    What a fabulous idea! I will be heading to the dollar store tomorrow to pick up a glass dish. Yours turned out beautiful! My husband is so into maps, as he was a Geography major in college, so this is just perfect for him. I can’t wait to make one for him! How long did the entire project take you to make?
    Thank you,
    Patti

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      6th January 2020 at 4:29 pm

      Thank you, it only takes about 30 mins to make one of these. My husband has one on his best side table for his loose change and keys.

      Reply
  2. Susanne

    12th June 2018 at 12:13 pm

    What a wonderful gift idea! So creative 🙂 My hubby would love this. Thanks for sharing with us at Create and Celebrate!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      12th June 2018 at 5:58 pm

      Thank you, Susanne.

      Reply
  3. Fionnuala

    23rd May 2018 at 4:44 am

    These are gorgeous Claire. Such a great idea. #homeetc

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      23rd May 2018 at 9:43 am

      Thank you, I had fun making them.

      Reply
  4. Caro | The Twinkle Diaries

    21st May 2018 at 9:05 am

    This is an absolutely BRILLIANT idea Claire — and you might just have solved the dilemma of what I can give to my husband for father’s day! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 #HomeEtc

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      21st May 2018 at 11:30 am

      Thank you, I do think they make a lovely fathers day present.

      Reply
  5. Victoria Higham

    18th May 2018 at 7:57 pm

    This looks so good. And what a lovely personalised gift. We definitely need some catchalls in our house.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      18th May 2018 at 8:02 pm

      Thank you so much.

      Reply
  6. Mary

    17th May 2018 at 4:16 am

    Aww that looks so pretty. I just glanced up to my lighting fixture and it looked just like your glass tray. Maybe if I decoupage it it’ll look better too!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      17th May 2018 at 5:42 am

      That would be interesting to do, I’d love to see them if you do it.

      Reply
  7. creativejewishmom/sara

    15th May 2018 at 12:31 pm

    great project and a fun way to make use of maps left over from vacation travels! maybe i’d make a set to use as souvenirs, hmmmm. thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      15th May 2018 at 10:43 pm

      Thank you, Sara. Using maps of your travels would make lovely souvenirs and reminders.

      Reply
  8. Julie

    15th May 2018 at 9:10 am

    Blokes can be difficult to make things for, this is clever and practical. Lovely!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      15th May 2018 at 10:01 am

      Thank you. Yes, my husband isn’t into handmade things as much as me, he gets more excited about tech.

      Reply
  9. Rebekah

    14th May 2018 at 11:55 pm

    What a great idea! You could use a specific place that held memories for your dad. The location of a family vacation, or the birthplace of his parents. Thanks for creating this and sharing!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      15th May 2018 at 7:31 am

      Thank you ? My dad once went on a special scientific trip to the Antartic that’s why I used that map for his trinket dish.

      Reply
  10. Lindsey

    14th May 2018 at 7:59 pm

    I love this idea! Running to get a glass plate now!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      14th May 2018 at 8:55 pm

      Thank you, and have fun making it.

      Reply
  11. Cecilia

    14th May 2018 at 5:46 pm

    I agree–DIY gifts for guys are more challenging. This turned out great! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      14th May 2018 at 8:54 pm

      Thank you. Yeah I can always think of loads of things to make for my girlfriends but with my husband it’s harder.

      Reply
  12. Victoria @DazzleWhileFrazzled

    13th May 2018 at 12:40 pm

    Great and easy idea! We have a few favorite places I could find on a map to turn into a fun gift like this. Visiting from Happiness Is Homemade party.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th May 2018 at 5:08 pm

      Thank you, Victoria.

      Reply
  13. Debrashoppeno5

    10th May 2018 at 11:18 pm

    The trinket dishes looks so nice. They do make a very nice gift. Especially if you are lucky enough to have a map of a special place.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      11th May 2018 at 5:21 am

      Thank you. Old maps are easy to find on eBay where you can search for one of your favourite places.

      Reply
  14. Sue

    10th May 2018 at 3:30 pm

    These are so simple and elegant, Claire, I really like them! Sue x

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      10th May 2018 at 6:51 pm

      Thank you so much Sue.

      Reply

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