Maps!

My dad got the cutest save the date in the mail, and of course I just had to know where it was from to share this adorable idea! It came from Kristen with One Lonely Apricot on Etsy. I got in contact with Kristen and asked her a few questions. Read below to find out more about how she got started and how to order these maps for your save the dates or even for maps in your hotel welcome bags!

Kristen started doodling as a child and when she decided to major in art in college, she kept a sketchbook of doodles as a way to relieve stress from her "real" art projects. She would draw everything with stick arms, cartoon faces, and clever captions--office supplies, fruits and vegetables, building--all personified. She started an Etsy shop to sell her photography a few years ago, and one day while browsing the Alchemy section of Etsy--where Etsy shoppers put in open requests for custom work and Etsy artists make bids on doing the work--she saw a request for an illustrated wedding map of California. She bid on it and won, and for the next month wondered what she’d gotten herself into (cartography, even in doodle-form, is hard work!). She finished the map and the couple loved it, so she then listed it in her shop as an example of what she could do, and the rest is history.
To begin each map, the couple sends her a list of the locations they'd like to include, the wording of their choice, and any other stylistic preferences they may have. Kristen then uses the internet to do research on their city, and her boyfriend assists her by plotting the locations into a Google map (her least favorite part, so she finally decided to start delegating!). She then draws each of the images by hand on paper, scans them in, scales them down, colors them in Photoshop, then arranges them using the Google map as a guide. From there, the couple tells her what edits they'd like to see and they do more drafts until they give their final approval, at which point the design goes to her printer. Kristen loves receiving the box of freshly printed postcards and seeing the design on paper for the first time! It's a magical moment.
Please make sure to check out these adorable maps on her Etsy site!
xoxo,
Kate