Love Letter Tutorial by Elyse Major

M is for …

If you like letters-as-décor then this project is for U

By Elyse Major

Single letters and numerals made of unfinished wood or paper mache are available at craft stores. Try your hand at decorating one and you may soon find yourself moving onto full monograms and mottos. Use to spell-out MRS and/or MR as gifts to brides and grooms or decorate as table numbers to add charm to your celebration as easy as 1-2-3.

What you’ll need

Unfinished letter or number

Decoupage medium

Foam brush

Scissors

Scraps of fabric

Gather scraps of fabric and cut or snip-and-tear into strips; next trim again into smaller sizes.

Piece by piece begin to cover the letter on all visible sides by brushing light strokes of decoupage medium to it and affixing and gently smoothing the scraps in place.

Continue until the letter is covered.

Secure any loose pieces or corners with a little touch of glue.

If your letter is not furnished with grooves or hooks for hanging, suspend with a narrow strip of fabric, ribbon or twine tacked to the reverse.

Elyse Major is the author of Seaside Tinkered Treasures and Tinkered Treasures (CICO Books). Visit Elyse at tinkeredtreasures.com

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?