Illustrator + Patience = DIY Maps Pt.1

Now that the invites were sent off and I have more time on my hands and I can tell you about my adventures with Illustrator. After going to a wedding in the beginning of June I realized how useful the Map/Direction insert included in the invitation is. Val, my MOH, drove us to the wedding and although she had a navigation system in her car we relied on the map to get us there. It was clear that I wanted a map with my invitations as well. I knew I could came up with something spectacular (okay maybe not that professional but you get the point) in the likes of one of my favorite calligraphers Laura Hooper or perhaps one like Crystal Kluge. I'm not trying to show off or anything but I do posses some ability with a calligraphy pen and after taking countless art classes I to can dabble with that as well or at least that's how the conversation went in my head. After thinking about the priorities for the wedding it seemed that my attention was required elsewhere. I decided to do a "quick" DIY map using illustrator but the problem was first trying to figure out how to use the program itself.


Here are two examples of what I was first thinking about and decided not to do:

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Once I decided to play with the actual layout of the design I began to look up some clip art that I would be able to incorporate into it.

Here are a couple of the ones I chose:

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Finding cute designs was more difficult than putting together the whole map. I thought I was going to save time by using clip art instead of actually drawing things myself. I will continue my adventure with Illustrator on a different day.

What do you think of my clip art so far? Are you including a map in your invitations?