My son Nicholas recently returned from the El Salvador Santa Ana Mission. I can't tell you how great it is to have him home. To help him feel welcome I created a few things to show how excited we were to have him back.
The first thing I created were these Welcome Home Tags I put on the door. I got my idea from
TaggedWithLove1 but then added my own flair. To cut out the tags I used 1/4 inch MDF board (you can get this at any hardware/lumber store. It comes in various sizes.) MDF is super easy to cut so I was able to do it on a table saw (especially since it was all straight cuts). Once I had the tags cut I drilled a 1/2 inch hole in each for the ribbons.
It's hard to see but I used a light cream color as the base color and then used black to outline each tag with a floating technique (It's been a long time since I painted!) Basically, you want darker paint on the outside and lighter and lighter towards the middle till it disappears completely. Not too difficult to learn.
Once the paint was dry I used my Cricut to cut out the lettering. After this it was just a matter of putting it together. I chose to glue the pieces together to hold them in position. The ribbon was folded in half with the loop end going through the drilled holes then the ribbon ends put through the loop. From here I tied a simple bow and used a wreath hanger to hang it on my door. I added sticky pads (the type you put on the legs of chairs so they don't scratch the wood floors) on the back of the project so it didn't ding up my door and also keep the banging sound to a minimum when the door is opened and closed. Overall, it was a simple and inexpensive craft.
The next thing I made was a Returned with Honor garland for our fireplace. There are lots of tie patterns online or you can make your own. (I used one that I didn't realize was copyrighted so I won't include it here for that reason - oops!) Once I had a pattern I went to my local scrapbook store and found some fun cardstock prints. It was a matter of cutting them out from here and adding a letter to each tie to complete the wording. I used my Cricut to make the letters out of cardstock which I glued on with a glue stick. Vinyl letters would work well also. I used jute as my string and duct tape to attach the ties. I'm sure there are a lot of more creative ways to attach the ties but I was going for simplicity here.
Finally, the last thing I made was a Mission Accomplished Poster. I found the graphic at this
website (I looked and looked for a copyright and didn't find one so I'm hoping it's okay to include the site here. Why re-invent the wheel, right?) Anyway, I copied the image, pasted it in a document, got it to the size I wanted and then sent it off to the printer. It was so easy! (FYI - mine was ledger size 11 x14. It did come out a little pixelated but was fine unless you looked at it really close.)
Having a son or daughter serve a mission has been a wonderful blessing both for our missionary and our family at home. It's even better to welcome him home and get that magical hug at the airport. I hope Nicholas knows how much we missed him and how grateful we are to have him home.
When I'm trying to be creative I picture how I want the project turn out in my mind. Sometimes the final product isn't quite what I hoped it would be. This is the case with these blocks. I think they turned out okay but not great. If I were to make these again I would make the letters stand out more. These kind of blend in with the background. (This is also a poor picture). 
I made the blocks out of scrap 2x4s I picked up at a construction site. You’d be amazed at how much good wood is available if you're willing to do some dumpster diving.
