Tag Archives: boyfriend

Hi guys, so today I’m going to share some Valentine’s Day gift ideas with you.  These gift ideas come from some of my favorite presents that Daniel and I have given to each other throughout the years, and most of them will work for either a girl or a guy!

If you’ve been to my blog before, you know that I’ve mentioned that puzzles have long been a theme in our relationship.  So I’m sure you can imagine that this has influenced a lot of the gifts we’ve given each other!

One year I had the idea to get Daniel a puzzle piece necklace.  I personally think jewelry for a guy is an unexpected gift, which is the kind of gift I strive for.  Unique, personal, and meaningful is my mantra when searching for a gift (especially for Daniel).

After searching and searching, I finally turned my attention to Etsy and found the perfect puzzle piece necklace.  This necklace was by far the most masculine looking one I found.  The seller was super nice, and the necklace came quickly and looked just as pictured.  Daniel loved it, and I love it whenever he wears it!  It also gave Daniel the idea to have a friend of his make me a matching puzzle necklace in silver!

Staying with the puzzle theme, Daniel gave me this amazingly romantic and sentimental gift (originally for our 1st year anniversary)!  Yes, that’s right, he made a puzzle for me.  I was so surprised and in love with this gift, not only when I first got it but every time we put it together.

Another gift that keeps on giving is… a fondue pot!  Daniel also got me this during our first year together.  It was particularly sentimental to us because of an amazing fondue dinner during our first trip together, but this would make a fabulous gift for anyone.

He was also very clever and made it a two-in-one gift by including the ingredients for chocolate fondue!  We exchanged gifts after dinner and were able to try out the fondue pot that night!  Yes, I know, I’m an incredibly lucky girl.

Since then, we’ve elevated countless stay at home date nights and celebrated special occasions with a fondue dinner (as you can see below).  It’s amazing how it can invoke so many wonderful memories every time we use it!

I don’t know about you, but we have numerous songs that have become very meaningful to our relationship and signified different stages of it.  For that reason, another gift I love giving are records.  This originally stemmed from Daniel having a beautiful record player, but no records!  Also, I’m not sure why, but I’ve always found vinyl to be more romantic than a CD.

Of course, if your significant other doesn’t have a record player, Valentine’s Day would be a great excuse to get one!  I personally think this would be an awesome gift for a guy, and a more unique and unexpected gift as well!

This is the one Daniel has, which doesn’t appear to be sold new anymore, but I love the look and features!

Another favorite gift that Daniel gave me was a picnic basket!

Talk about a sweet gift!  Would you not melt after unwrapping this?  We’ve used it SO many times during the summer months, and it makes me smile every single time.

And last but certainly not least, Daniel started making awesome paintings last year, and he made this WALL-E and Eva pair for me for Valentine’s Day!

As you can see, I was pretty happy!  You can visit his Etsy page to get these adorable paintings for your significant other.  I’m sure any Pixar-loving girl (such as myself) would LOVE to have these hanging on her wall!

There you have it, a few unique and meaningful Valentine’s Day gift ideas for your guy or girl!

I hope you all have a very special Day of Love!

Hey guys, so I know I’ve blogged about the Places We’ve Been DIY before, but I wanted to bring it up to the front for any newcomers or anyone that may have missed it the first time around.  I originally made this as an anniversary gift for Daniel, but it would make an amazing DIY Valentine’s Day Gift for your significant other!  Very romantic and meaningful, and chock full of memories!  Not to mention it’s also quick, easy, and inexpensive!

Here’s what you need:

• 2 pieces of Matboard, both at least 12×12 inches
• Mod Podge (or any glue you prefer)
• Sharp scissors
• A heart stencil
• 12 printed maps
• 12×12 picture frame
• Cardstock, or any thick paper (optional)

Here’s what you do:

Obviously this project is all about the maps, so the first thing I did was figure out how I wanted them to look.  I did this DIY right before moving to Portland, so I was working on limited time and a small budget.  Because of that, I personally chose to use Google Maps and print them out at home.  Easy peasy!  It was also a great choice for me because I wanted to control what would be seen within the heart, so zooming was key.  You could also use an Atlas, Thomas Guide, or look for old maps at a thrift store if you want more variety.

Because we were about to move from Los Angeles to a new home in Portland, I chose to include a map of the neighborhood we dearly loved but had to leave behind.  You can use any heart stencil you’d like – as for me, I didn’t have one (remember that whole uncrafty crafter thing?).  So I just searched for an image of a heart I liked and printed it out on cardstock, thus making my own stencil!  That’s a little crafty, right?

I stenciled and cut out each heart, and before I knew it, I had 12 perfect little sentimental maps laid out before me.  This is the moment when I got really excited because I knew the project was going to turn out just as I had imagined it!   Which is always a little shocking to me.  Here are some measurements for your reference:  the widest part of the heart measured in at 2 1/2″, and from the top point to the bottom point it measured out to 2 3/4″.  This size worked perfectly for me based on 12 hearts and a 12×12 frame.  You’ll want to adjust the sizes depending on how many hearts you’re planning on using.

Next, I pasted each heart on a piece of matboard with Mod Podge and then cut out each heart again.  The reason I did this is because I wanted the hearts to have a 3D effect.  I used a pair of scissors to do this, and even though they were REALLY dull, it was still fairly easy to cut through the matboard.  With sharp scissors it should be a breeze, but use whatever cutting tool works best for you!

I tried to get fancy and penciled in a mathematical grid onto the matboard to try and ensure all the hearts would line up perfectly.  It mostly worked.  The grid was totally wrong, but it still helped me eyeball them into the right placement!

I pasted each heart onto a 12×12 piece of matboard using Mod Podge (you will most likely have to cut your matboard down to size), and weighed it down with heavy books for about 48 hours to make sure the edges wouldn’t curl up.  As for placement, I arranged the maps mainly by how they looked, not by chronological order.  I didn’t want two mostly blue hearts next to each other, same with the green.  I also wanted to make sure our neighborhood heart was kind of in the middle, and because a lot of the places we visited were in California and on the East Coast, I tried to vary those from each other as well.

After that, all that was left was putting the finished project in a frame!  I really liked the idea of a white picture frame, since almost all the frames in our house are black.  Apparently white frames aren’t very popular though.  I searched for a LONG time to find the perfect white 12×12 frame, and still didn’t have that many options.  In the end, I decided to go with this frame, and I am more than pleased with it.  It’s not the highest quality frame I’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t look cheap and feels very sturdy.

So, here it is, my completed DIY Valentine’s Day gift – Places We’ve Been!

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of my DIY and the original product I was inspired by.  What do you think?  I really loved how it turned out.  The original is over $500, and in total mine only cost me about $20.  Much easier on my wallet!

Bonus:  The Gift Wrap!

I love to make gift wrap just as meaningful as the gift itself, and I thought I’d share what I did in case anyone is looking for some wrapping inspiration.

All I did was take brown packing paper (which came from an Amazon shipment), and with a black Sharpie wrote the lyrics from our song in cursive (in case you’re wondering, our song is “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by Elvis Presley).  Simple as that!

There you have it!  I hope this tutorial gave you all inspiration to make your own DIY Valentine’s Day gift!

Valentine’s Day is almost here, and I know a lot of you out there are probably searching for gifts for your boyfriend/husband or girlfriend/wife.  I always say this, but I think homemade gifts are such a wonderful way to express your love for someone.  So much thought, energy, and love goes into the gift that that’s almost a gift on its own!

I had come across the 52 Reasons Why I Love You DIY a while ago, and knew I wanted to make it at some point for a special occasion.  After pinning it, I was a little intimidated by the DIY… I’m what I like to call an “uncrafty crafter.”  This project looked slightly beyond my capabilities, so I passed on it more than a few times.

Finally, last year for Valentine’s Day I decided to take on the challenge and make it for Daniel.  This DIY is all over Pinterest and everyone has their own take on it.  After looking at a bunch of examples, I knew how I was going personalize it for Daniel and myself.  And now I’d like to share it with you all, so here’s my DIY of the 52 Reasons Why I Love You gift! Read more »

I’m sure many of you saw my original post for this project, but I wanted to re-share it with you all, because it would make a great DIY Christmas gift for your girlfriend/boyfriend or wife/husband.  It’s easy, quick, and inexpensive!  But it has so much meaning behind it, I know anyone would love to receive it.  I know Daniel did!

Here’s what you need:

• 2 pieces of Matboard, both at least 12×12 inches
• Mod Podge (or any glue you prefer)
• Sharp scissors
• A heart stencil
• 12 printed maps
• 12×12 picture frame
• Cardstock, or any thick paper (optional)

Obviously this project is all about the maps, so the first thing I did was figure out how I wanted them to look.  I did this DIY right before moving to Portland, so I was working on limited time and a small budget.  Because of that, I personally chose to use Google Maps and print them out at home.  I also chose to use Google Maps because I wanted to control the zoom of each map and what would be seen within the heart.  You could also use an Atlas, Thomas Guide, or look for old maps at a thrift store!

Because we were about to move from Los Angeles to a new home in Portland, I chose to include a map of the neighborhood we dearly loved but had to leave behind.  You can use any heart stencil you’d like – as for me, I didn’t have one (remember that whole uncrafty crafter thing?).  So I just searched for an image of a heart I liked and printed it out on cardstock, thus making my own stencil!

I stenciled and cut out each heart, and before I knew it, I had perfect little sentimental maps laid out before me.  This is the moment when I got really excited because I knew the project was going to turn out just as I had imagined it!  At the widest part of the heart it measured 2 1/2″, and from the top point to the bottom point it measured 2 3/4″.  This size worked perfectly for me based on 12 hearts and a 12×12 frame.  You’ll want to adjust the sizes depending on how many hearts you’re planning on using.

Next, I pasted each heart on a piece of matboard with Mod Podge and then cut out each heart again.  The reason I did this is because I wanted the hearts to have a 3D effect.  I used a pair of scissors to do this, and even though they were REALLY dull, it was still fairly easy to cut through the matboard.  With sharp scissors it should be a breeze, but use whatever cutting tool works best for you!

I tried to get fancy and penciled in a mathematical grid onto the matboard to try and ensure all the hearts would line up perfectly.  It…mostly worked.  The grid was totally wrong, but it still helped me eyeball them into the right placement!

I pasted each heart onto a 12×12 piece of matboard using Mod Podge (you will most likely have to cut your matboard down to size), and weighed it down with heavy books for about 48 hours to make sure the edges wouldn’t curl up.  As for placement, I arranged the maps mainly by how they looked, not by chronological order.  I didn’t want two mostly blue hearts next to each other, same with the green, I also wanted to make sure our neighborhood heart was kind of in the middle, and because a lot of the places we visited were in California and on the East Coast, I tried to vary those from each other as well.

After that, all that was left was putting the finished project in a frame!  I really liked the idea of a white picture frame, since almost all the frames in our house are black.  Apparently white frames aren’t very popular.  I searched for a LONG time to find the perfect white 12×12 frame, and still didn’t have that many options.  In the end, I decided to go with this frame, and I am more than pleased with it.  It’s not the highest quality frame I’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t look cheap and feels very sturdy.

So, here it is, my completed DIY Places We’ve Been Heart Maps!

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of mine and the original inspiration on Etsy.  What do you think?  I really loved how it turned out.  In total it only cost me about $20, easier on my wallet than $500!

Bonus:  The Gift Wrap!

I love to make gift wrapping just as meaningful as the gift itself, and I thought I’d share what I did in case anyone is looking for some wrapping inspiration.

All I did was take brown packing paper (which came from an Amazon shipment), and with a black Sharpie wrote the lyrics from our song in cursive (in case you’re wondering, our song is “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by Elvis Presley).  Simple as that!  This was originally a gift for our anniversary, which is why I chose to use lyrics from our song.  That could also work for Christmas since it’s a romantic gift and a romantic holiday, but you could also write Christmas lyrics to make it more festive.

There you have it!  I hope this tutorial gave you all inspiration to make your own DIY Christmas gift!