A gift, some prayers and a Tutorial

Today two of our friends left for 4 weeks in Africa. We're excited, apprehensive and praying for them. They will spend the first part of their trip touring around with Australian Lutheran World Service to see the incredible work that they (ALWS) are doing in some of the villages there. In the second part of their trip Ali will be showing Lester some of the places that she has visited before and together they will discover new places and adventures.

Joel came up with the idea of leaving something on their door step on the evening before they left to remind them we're thinking of them without intruding on their packing and last minute preparations. I came up with this:

The letters are for Ali and Lester. On the back of the 'A' it says : "Ali. Adventure. Africa. You are in our prayers and God's hands". On the back of the 'L' it says: " Lester. Living Word. Lifetime Experience. God Bless, from Joel & Rachel". I covered the logo's on a tote bag with matching paper, added a packet of lollies for the plane and left on their doorstep last night.

If you have a moment you might like to pray for the mission of ALWS in Africa and all of it's people.

.........................0O0...........................

How I made the Letter's

(for those interested)

Material's:

• Wooden Letter's (I found these ones at Spotlight for a few dollars each)
• Scrap-booking paper (or other heavy weight paper - if it's too thin it will warp on the glue)
• PVA glue
• Paint (I used house paint from one of my many sample pots but other craft paint should be fine)
• Paint brush
• Sand paper (a fine to medium grade is best)

What to do:

1. Give the letters a good sand. I found they were fairly rough but for the price I paid that's ok!
2. Paint your letters wherever you are not covering it with paper (I only covered one side so needed to paint the edges and back). Give it a few coats as the craft wood soaks up lots of paint.
3. When the letters are dry use them to trace onto the paper. Make sure you get the letter and the paper lined up the way you want it to look. I got a bit annoyed at myself for tracing around the 'A' only to realise the cut out bit would go on the back.
4. Carefully cut your paper out. It's better to cut on the outside of the line than on the inside as we'll get rid of any excess in a minute but you can't put more on.
5. Use your brush to generously but not excessively cover the whole surface, right to the edges, where the paper is to go. WARNING: Too much glue will make your paper warp and not enough will obviously not be enough.
6. Line up the paper and stick it down. Smooth out any bubbles and wrinkles as you go.
7. When the glue is dry use the sand paper to rub the edges of the paper away. Go slowly and carefully and you'll have a nice white boarder on the edge of your letter from the rubbed back paper and no flapping bits.
8. Find the perfect place to display your personalised letters and don't let your husband know how many of them you plan to make - just make them!

I'd love to see if anyone makes one of these so send me a picture if you do.

P.S. I am sure someone more famous or crafty than me has done this before (Martha Stewart maybe?!) but I just wandered around Spotlight until I came up with the idea and then worked out how to do it for myself. So, I certainly don't think I'm a genius - just sharing the crafty love with those who want it.