"Missionary" Gifts

Some dear friends are leaving to serve as "need-greaters" in Dominican Republic and in Thailand.  I wanted to make something special for them to remember where they've been and where they are going.

I found a cute idea on pinterest and figured I could make it small enough to fit in their suitcases.  I also left the glass out of the frame to avoid any breakage in flight.

After searching the Dollar Tree, we found a little picture frame with 4 photo holes.  I searched google for state outlines and country outlines and then shrunk them to fit into the holes.

Both girls have lived in Guatemala, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Georgia.  One of the girls lived in Florida and she is planning to travel to Thailand.  The other girl is traveling to D.R.   

Here's what they ended up looking like:

I used a stick pin and foam to poke holes on the outline onto linen style scrapbook paper.

Then I stitched in pretty colors for the outlines following the holes I punched through previously. (Thankfully my Momma used to be an avid cross-stitcher and has lots of different colored DMC floss to choose from.  Thanks Momma!)

Then you cut out little red hearts from felt and hot glue them onto the places they lived and served.

We also spent some time at Dollar Tree picking out essentials they might need for their trips.  We bought tylenol (off brand), ibuprofen (off brand), cold medicine (day time and night time formula in one), facial cleansing cloths, feminine wipes, wet wipes, alcohol wipes, baking soda & vinegar (to clean the bacteria off the fruit), travel bags (to fill with clothing and vacuum out the air), granola bars, peanut butter crackers, socks (for the friends in D.R.), pony tail holders, sunscreen.  Sissy made them each a card, complete with eyeglasses made out of fake silver wedding rings.

And guess what?  I didn't even take a picture of them going through the box or of the tea party or of them crying over the pictures...I was lame.   They took pictures so I'm hoping they'll email them to me before they leave. 

They really liked everything and thought it was the "kindest thing anyone has ever done for us"...Made me cry.  I'm gonna miss them girls!!!  Thankfully they left their eldest sister at home so we still have someone to come over and dance with us :) 

Enjoy!