Map Bio
This bio contains directions on how to make wedding maps using Microsoft Word. The same tools can be used in PowerPoint as well. When using PowerPoint, you can group your completed map into one object, then right-click and save the object as a picture, which is a helpful tool. My best recommendation is to play around with the Drawing and Picture toolbars in Word and get an idea of what each of the tools do. Use your right click function to discover other methods for altering shapes, images and textboxes.
First you will find directions on how to make your map. At the end I have included some extra information that will hopefully be helpful in making your map easier.
TIP: When making your map, remember that simple is better. Maps with too many roads or that are hard to read just make it confusing for your guests, not helpful. So remember to stick to the necessary directions to get people from A to B, and skip stressing over those tiny side streets you just can't get quite right.
Getting Started | Toolbars | Shapes and Lines | Textboxes | Layering | Resizing | Printing | Helpful Links | Map Graphics | Examples of Knottie DIY maps
Getting Started
To begin, you first need to map out your locations, to have a visual of where they lay in conjunction to each other. You need to determine important roads that will clearly convey where your locations are, without cluttering up your map with roads your guests don’t need to find. You may also want to plot out other important locations, such as local hotels or airports.
1. Map your locations.
Open Internet Explorer and go to www.mapquest.com. Type in your ceremony address, and click “Get Map.” Zoom in or out until you get a pretty good scope of your place in relation to major surrounding roads and towns. Right click on the map and chose “Copy.”
2. Create a Word document.
Open Microsoft Word to a blank document. Right click and Paste (Ctrl+V) the map into your document.
Note: If nothing shows up: go to the top menu to Edit, and chose Paste Special…. In the window that opens, click on “Device Independent Bitmap.” This should insert the map into your document.
3. Save your document.
Be sure to save your map at this point and frequently while making changes. Anyone who has had a major project or report due and lost it to power failure can tell you why!!
4. Click on the map to select it (a black border appears around the map). Once the map is selected, a Picture toolbar should appear. Click on the Text Wrapping button (the little dog with lines behind it) and chose “In Front of Text.” This will let you click on the map and drag it around wherever you like.
5. You can go back to MapQuest and plot other maps if needed, including maps on how to get to your reception. You can get either a more expanded or detailed view of your area. I won’t do that in this tutorial to keep it short, but play around with your maps to achieve the clearest idea of your area. You can put these maps into your document along with your first one, and move them around to line them up.
6. Trace your streets.
Use the straight and curvy lines from your drawing toolbar to trace the highways on the MapQuest map. You can use different types of lines to reflect the style of map you want (curvy lines for ornate maps, straight lines for streamlined maps). Also, use the “Line Style” button to make thicker or thinner lines to indicate major and minor roads.
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In this map, the line for Route 77 is a straight line with 4 ½ pt line style, or “weight.” Route 62 has the same weight but is made with a curvy line. Fohl Street is made of two straight lines end to end, to look like a bent road, and both are 2 ¼ pt weight. Our Church Road (with the red star on our church location) is made with a Curve line, and 1 ½ pt.
7. Label your streets and towns.
There is a variety of ways to label your streets and highways. You can search online for highway route signs, and use a graphics program such as paint that will allow you to add numbers to the signs. You can also add text boxes to write in the street name.
8. Add your locations.
Mark the places where you are having your ceremony and reception. This is a good place to let your style through, and use some cute icons. Cakes, rings, churches, dancing shoes, all could be used.
9. Delete the original map.
Now you can delete the original map behind your drawing. Click on just the map itself, and hit delete. Now, you just have your drawing left!
10. Jazz it up!
You can personalize your map to use your colors, fonts, or just add general bits to make your map more interesting.
And you’re done!
Toolbars
Drawing Toolbar
Note: If you don’t see your Drawing toolbar in Word (usually at the bottom of the page), go to the top menu to View, Toolbars, and click on Drawing. It should pop up.
Picture Toolbar
Note: If you don’t see your Picture toolbar in Word (usually at the bottom of the page), go to the top menu to View, Toolbars, and click on Picture. It should pop up.
Shapes and Lines
Shapes can be useful in your maps to represent outlines of cities, lakes, oceans, or points of interest like National Forests. In the Drawing toolbar, there is an AutoShapes feature that has many common shapes you can use.
Another way to create a more curvy shape is to use your Curve line. Use the line to draw the outline of your city, etc. Bring the end of the line back to the beginning to make a complete round shape and double click. This should close your line and make it a shape, which by default will be filled white. You can change the fill color, and the line color to match, to create a solid, freeform shape. If double-clicking does not automatically make your line one continuous edge, right click on the line and chose Close Path. This will have the same effect.
Finally, if your shape or your line is not exactly what you want, there is a way to adjust it without completely redrawing it. Simply right click on the object and chose Edit Points. Small black boxes will show up at all the major points on your object. You can move just the black box, and create small adjustments to the object, without changing the entire thing. Tip: When using the curve line to make tight corners, you will find that the curves go way out and don't follow your road closely. To fix this, either use straight lines on those parts and line them up with the rest of the road lines, or change your curves to "corners" to make them tighter. To make a corner, first draw your road using the curve line. Right click your line and chose "Edit Points". Then right click on the black square marking your corner. Chose Corner Point and your point will change to show two lines sticking out of it (in addition to the curve of the line). The will have white boxes at the ends. Click on a box and drag it, to see that it straightens out your corner and therefore your curvy line. Do this for both sides, and any place along your line where you need a sharper corner.Another tip though: Don't get too caught up on tracing every corner of the roads on Mapquest. A straighter line gives the same information without being so visually confusing. It also makes for cleaner looking maps.
Textboxes
Text boxes are an easy way to add text to your map and be able to move it around to where you want it. I have two tips for using textboxes:
1. To change the direction of your text (to go vertical): Type in whatever you want the box to say. Highlight the text and go to the top menu to Format, Text Direction… This will bring up a box that allows you to change the direction of your words.
2. There is a white margin inside text boxes called “Internal Margins.” You can make these smaller or larger (and adjust your text slightly) by right clicking on the box, go to Format Text Box… Under the Text Box tab at the top, you can alter the internal margins. Resizing Tip: I should say here, that you can't resize a textbox like you can a shape or line. The words stay the same font size unless you select them and change the size yourself. See the Resizing section below for more info. You can also use Word Art to label your maps, which will resize and rotate easily. Rotating Tip: if you want to rotate your text to an angle to follow a particular line, here is a website with directions on how best to do that:
Rotating Text Boxes
Layering
Objects in Word are entered as layers, one on top of the other. Therefore, if you have drawn most of your map, and then go back later to add something in, it will be added on top of your drawing. If you want your new object (for example, the outline of a city) in the map, but behind some of the other objects (roads, etc), you will have to send it behind some of the layers. To do this, right click on your most current object; go to Order, and chose Send Backward. Do this as many times as it takes to get your object where you want it. Depending on how many objects you have on your map, you may have many layers to go through. To immediately send your object behind all objects, chose “Send to Back.”
Resizing
Resizing maps in Word can be tricky, because the textboxes won't resize along with the lines and shapes you make. If you try grouping everything together and resizing it, you'll find things can get a little wonky. Here are some tips to deal with that: 1. Create your map the desired size from the beginning. Know ahead of time what size insert you are going to include, and draw your map to scale. You can make this easier by changing your page size on the screen to the same size as your insert, so you know just how it's going to lay out. (For directions on changing page size, scroll down to the "Printing" section and read the directions listed there.) 2. Make all of your roads first, group them together, and then resize them. Once you have them to the correct scale, add your text boxes where they belong. 3. Create your map, save it as a picture, and then resize. If you are working in PowerPoint, you can group all of your bits together, right click on it and chose "Save as Picture." If you are working in Word, the easiest way to save it is to get the full map showing on your screen, and then press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (top right). This automatically takes a picture of your whole screen and copies it. Open an image editor, like Paint, and Paste or Control+V the screen shot into the document. Then you can select just your map, and cut out all the rest of the screen information, and save your map as an image. This is a great way to get your map as an image, so you can Copy and Paste it wherever you like. Be aware, however, that programs like Paint usually have very low image resolution, so if you copy your map into Word again as an image and start resizing, the pictures might get blurry or choppy. You can usually only an image from Paint a little bit, but that might be all you need.
Printing
To print your map onto insert cards directly from the Word document, simply change the page size to the insert card dimensions and center your map in the page. To do this, go to the top menu to File, Page Setup. In Microsoft 2000, there is a Page tab at the top of the box. Find the place where it has the page size listed (8.5” wide, 11” long by default). Change the width and height to match your insert cards, and click ok. Center your map onto the page, and print out a practice page or two.
Links
Websites to check out for map inspiration!
www.momentsofcolor.com Some very attractive maps, although you have to click around to see some of them.
http://www.weddingmaps.com/
http://www.customweddingmaps.com/ Has some icons and borders as well
http://www.snappymap.com/wedding-maps.htm
And you can always search for more.
Graphics
http://www.photomagnets.com/wedonecolor.html This website has some good wedding clipart you can add to your maps.
http://www.diybride.com has a clipart download section, as well as a great selection of fonts.
CalTech has a site for state-specific roadsigns.
Examples of Knottie DIY Maps
Made by Knottie Jannypie for Dotbabe Made by Knottie Jannypie for Emanddave Made by Knottie Living_Insanity Made by Knottie Zany Made by Knottie Stinasm Made by Knottie Stacibear Made by Knottie Sammawamma Made by Knottie Naiad_Diva Made by Knottie MicheleLouise Made by Knottie lacey_ja_r Made by Knottie Jonsgirl Made by Knottie ELCJet Made by Knottie Buckeychik
Feel free to steal this code and put it in your own bio.