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Upcycled Map Magnetic Board & Pins

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How to Upcycle an Old Magnetic Board with Maps

I love maps! Stick a map on something and all of a sudden it becomes much more attractive and hipper. For example, my brilliant vintage map suitcase.
 
If you use the right map you can also add meaning to an object by personalising it with maps of your favourite places. I did this with my personalised map chairs.
 
My son had this old plain Ikea magnetic pin board in his room and I decided that it needed a bit of map magic. I decoupaged it with some map wrapping paper and now it’s a much more interesting map magnetic board.
 
When he finishes school in the summer my son wants to go interrailing around Europe. With a map magnetic board in his room, he can plan his trip whilst daydreaming. To add a bit more fun to the board I made some travel themed magnetic pins to compliment it.
 
This map magnetic board would look great in any home office, or teenagers bedroom. It would be a great gift for people like my son with wanderlust!
 
 
How to make an awesome map magnetic board by simply decoupaging map wrapping paper to an old magnetic board. Also includes tutorial for map themed travel pins.
 
 
This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my disclosure policy.
 

What you need to make a map magnetic board and pins

  • Magnetic notice board. My board was a simple steel board.
  • Europe Map Wrapping paper
  • Mod Podge & sealer
  • Rolling pin & Scissors

    •  
    How to make an awesome map magnetic board

     
    Upcycled Map Magnetic Board

     

    For the Magnetic pins

  • Ink jet shrink film paper
  • Self adhesive coin magnets
  • Images, create your own or download mine for free

    •  

    How to make a Map Magnetic board and pins

     

  • First to ensure that my map would stick to the board I keyed it, by covering the front of the board in dilute Mod Podge (50/50) and leaving to dry.
     

    • Map magnetic board preparation
     

  • Next I applied a thin layer of Mod Podge glue to the board and the wrong side of my map and carefully lay my map over the top of the board. To help eliminate air bubbles, I used both a ruler and a rolling pin to gently squeeze them out.

    •  
    How to make a map magnetic pin board
     

  • The map wrapping paper was wrapped round the sides of the board and the excess trimmed away. To protect the map, apply a coat of Mod Podge glue or varnish to the top of the map.

    •  
    Map Magnetic board
     
    Map Magnetic Pin Board and travel pins
     

    How to Make the Travel Pins

     
    To give my map magnetic pin board even more of a travel theme I made some special magenetic pins. To use my own travel themed hand drawn images download them here..
     
    Images for magnetic travel themed pins

     
    As well as my own drawings, I found some fantastic graphics of vintage airline tags from a great graphics blog Graphicdefiner. I emailed Jonathan at Graphicdefiner and he gave me permission to use these tags.
     
    Map Magnetic pin board and travel themed pins
     

      To make your pins, print your chosen images onto your shrink plastic (bearing in mind the images shrink to about 1/3). Cut out the images and place on a baking tray.
      Shrink your images according to the instructions that come with your shrink plastic. I did mine in a 150c oven. Don’t get alarmed as the plastic shrinks it will curl but then uncurl.
      Once your picture has shrunk and cool just stick one of your self adhesive magnets on the back to create a magnetic pin.

     
    How to make magnetic travel pins for map magnetic pin board
     
    Upcycled map magnetic pin board and shrink plastic pins
     

    Upcycled Mpa magnetic board and shrink plastic magnetic travel pins
     
     
    If you like me and love to decoupage with maps check out my other popular map crafts:
    Vintage Map Suitcase
    Map Table Mats with City Maps
    Map Heart Ornament
    Ikea Lamp Hack With Maps
     

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sandra Garth

      This is so much fun Claire and a great opportunity for a geography lesson. Thanks for joining us again this week at Celebrate Your Story and I hope your weekend is off to a great start.

      Reply

    3. Sam @ Raggedy Bits

      What a fabulous idea, Claire!! I love the little pins you made!! Just adorable! Thank you so much for sharing your Upcycled map magnetic board at #WasteNotWednesday! Look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve for this week 🙂

      Reply

    4. Sharon@BlueWillowHouse

      What an absolutely fantastic idea but then you add in the graphics for the magnets to take this project totally over the top. Thank so much for sharing at Vintage Charm and I hope to see you back again this week.

      Reply

    6. Lori

      Hi Claire! What an adorable magnetic board. I never knew you could buy a sheet of wrapping paper that was a map. Very cool! Thanks for sharing and linking up at DI & DI 🙂

      Reply

    9. LydiaF

      I was already sold on the project but then you added shrinky dinks to the mix and now I’m in love! Your son will have a blast traveling Europe by rail. As you probably know, the trains are (mostly) modern, fast and the scenery is amazing. Thanks for sharing with us at Creatively Crafty #ccbg 🙂

      Reply

    11. Jamie

      What a fun idea!! Would be perfect to showcase the places you’ve visited, I love it! Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty

      Reply

    19. Stacey

      This is fun!! The map idea is great to start with but when you add those magnetic pins it’s just over the top. Sharing on Facebook.

      Happy Thoughts of Home. 🙂

      Reply

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