DIY Valentine’s Gift: “50 reasons why I like/love you” book

Hey there love bugs!

That good ‘ol Valentine’s Day is approaching rather quickly and I know a bunch of you have mixed opinions of it. I know the couples out there either love it or hate it, and the singles usually hate it. Trust me, I understand. It tends to feel like another Hallmark holiday to encourage us to all spend a ton of money all on the same day. BUT I also like to look at it as a great reminder day to show the ones that you appreciate them. I know, I know, you are perfect and express gratitude towards them every day *inserts eye rolls* but if you are like me and tend to have hectic days consecutively, sometimes a calendar reminder to do something extra special for once is nice. Let’s face it, on a day where love and appreciation is shoved down our throats with all the ads and reminders in every store, you do not want to be forgotten on this day. If you have a significant other who just didn’t think you are worth the effort on this day where signs of “show them you care” are plastered everywhere, you may feel a bit left out! Or not.

Now with all that being said, I am not advocating to spending $300 on all red and pink fluffy stuff strapped with chocolate and roses to show you care about your loved one(s). But I like to use this time to get creative! I like to make gifts for my favorite single gal pals or sig other (if I have one) to show them some love on this day of love. If I am not making the actual gift, I am customizing a gift bag/box of their favorite things. I think I gifted a goodie bag which included bacon one year to one of my bacon loving friends. The possibilities are endless so use your noggin and be cute! Shoot, take it back to elementary school and hand make a card with a meaningful message. It will be much more appreciated than another red stuffed teddy bear from Wal-Mart.

(disclaimer: these images were taken before my blogging days so they may not be the best quality, but you will get the concept nonetheless)

One gift idea that I have done twice is making a book of “50 reasons why I love/like you”. I think this is a super cute way to let the person not only know that you care, but express why you feel that way. It is perfect for a girlfriend who is like family, the man/woman in your life, or even your mother! What I especially love about this gift is that it’s a gift that keeps on giving. What I mean by that is when you are going through a rough patch, in a long distance relationship, or just not always vocal about your emotions towards someone, it is a good way for them to always reference back to why it is that you love them. So even when you do not always say it, you gave them a visual book that they can use as a reminder, daily if needed.

There are different ways to go about making this amazing book. The first time I made it, I hand drew and wrote out the messages on each page. I felt that my busy schedule was stifling my creativity so I thought this was a perfect outlet. I sketched the images out in pencil, then once perfected I went over it in permanent marker.

The second time I made this book I was on a bit more of at time crunch so I searched the Internet for beautiful illustrations to go with each message per page. This book was a collaborative effort with some of my local girl friends to my girlfriend that lives abroad. She is often left out of things because of distance so we made her a book of 50 reasons why we love her. We found images of girlfriends doing various activities that represent our relationships. Being all women of color, we used images that reflects each of our looks and personalities. You may think it would be difficult to find so many images to use, but there is a TON of amazing art online when you search properly.

Materials you will need:

If you draw the book by hand…
Card stock paper (for cover and each page)
Permanent makers
Access to a store (or machine) that binds pages

If you are borrowing illustrations from online…
Printing paper
Printer
Laminated paper/ sleeve for cover
Access to store (or machine) that binds pages

 

Steps

Step 1: List out the 50 reasons
Step 2: Google and Pinterest the images you want to draw or use. Do not forget to save the images.
Step 3: Decide dimensions of pages
Step 4: Start drawing, printing and/or writing! Have fun with it
Step 5: Get the book bound (I prefer spiral binding)– I bound mine at Fedex
Step 6: Surprise the recipients and bask in the appreciation

 

How to set up each page

What I did the first time around is drew 75-80% of the reasons in the “50 reasons why I like you”. I would draw the image and wrote the reason either above, within, or below the image, depending on your vision. The other 20-25% of pages had the reasons written as quotes with boarders drawn around it. I did this because I had a hard time drawing out the images for each of the reasons. My drawing abilities are very limited, hence why the characters were fancy versions of stick figures (no shame in my drawing game).

The second time around I found illustrations online for all of the reasons. It also takes significantly less time to complete each page. I also incorporated the words either next to or within the image, depending on the image, to go with our aesthetic vision.

Keep in mind that you will bind the book so be aware of the margins of your pages. You do not want a piece of the images or words to be cut off once the pages are connected. Also use sturdy paper or lamination to protect the pages so the book will last the length of the relationship.

So what do you think of this idea? It’s better than giving and receiving something you do not particularly want doesn’t it? Who in your life would appreciate this hand made gift? Gift it to all. If you choose to make this book, please tag me in the images on social media. I would love to see what you all create.

Until next time lovelies!

With love,
CoCo