Using some lessons learned from earlier maps, I was able to crank out a few 11"x14" panels as a gift for my sister who just graduated from med school and is getting hitched. What an overachiever! Each panel has a 0.5" heart where she or her fiancé lived during their journey. They’re a military couple, so I’m ready to bet these will not be the last panels in their story!

Materials:

• Proofgrade Medium Draftboard
• 11"x14" black float frames from Michaels.

Steps:

• Made a Glowforge-friendly template at SnazzyMaps
• Downloaded raster images of the appropriate areas
• Import to Inkscape, use trace bitmap function
• Select roads, remove fill, set stroke thin (0.1mm)
• Use the boolean operations as necessary to crop image and add hearts

Time:

• Design: 10-15 minutes per map
• Laser: 40-100 minutes per map, depending on detail