Oh the Places We've Been, An Anniversary Present

2012 ended up being a numerically significant year for us.  Earlier this month on August 12th it was our 12th anniversary so we were married twelve years on the twelfth in two thousand and twelve.  Kinda neat I thought.  There won't be another instance in which a number repeats itself quite so much.  I've decided that twelve must be my new lucky number, taking precedence over my former favorite number thirteen chosen for the boring reason that it's the day of the month I was born on. 

Anyway, this post actually doesn't really have much to do with any of that.  Which means you are probably wondering why I'm rambling on about it.  I'll get to the real point, which is the simple, easy, and cheap but meaningful anniversary gift I made for Brad. 

It was inspired by the framed maps cut into hearts I've seen around.  That's what I had planned on doing but then I ran into the trouble of hunting down the maps.  I've gotten a few daily deal type things emailed to me recently with state prints and decided to combine the two, since I knew just where to find my own state images.

The three state are where we've lived since getting married.  Putting them together and framing the whole thing gives us a way to look back over where we've been and remind us of the many adventures we've had together.  I sized each one for my frame and added the little hearts over the general area we've lived.  The best part, and something my frugal husband can appreciate is that other than the frame from Ikea the rest was free ☺ 

I thought about adding the years we lived in each one or some kind of quote to the glass with vinyl but in the end resisted.  Have decided I really like the clean, unencumbered look.  It's more masculine that way too and after all, it is a gift for my hubby.

The state images and hearts are from The Vintage Lemon, available as a free download!  Isn't that generous?  I loved the hip and modern of her state silhouettes.  Not at all girly which made them perfect for so many projects. 

I also found some another free options for you to check out.  These not only include the states but some countries too like England, Italy, etc. find these at q.a. design. If you are handy with a program like Photoshop you could also create your own using this free state dingbat font, layering them over digital paper.  Either way, it still keeps the project in budget and easy on the pocketbook.

PS: Did you notice I posted this twelve days after our 12th anniversary on the 12th?  Yeah, I am that cheesy!