Whether you have a special wedding anniversary coming up or simply want to mark the first time you laid eyes on your other half, why not express your love and appreciation with a sentimental homemade gift?
Your spouse is sure to adore something created by your own hands, so check out sites like Homecrafts for a wealth of artistic materials and knock up a memorable treat. Here are some ideas for inspiration.
Photo collage
What better way to remember all the good times than with a photo collage? To do this, simply gather some of your best pics as well as a host of other keepsakes including drawings, love notes, newspaper cut-outs of memorable events and festival tickets – the more meaningful the better. Arrange them on a piece of card in an interesting way before gluing them down or securing with double-sided adhesives. Pop in a frame and you’ll have a beautiful personalised gift that can’t be bought on the high street.
DIY heart picture
Making your very own framed heart picture is easier than you might think. Unless you’re really good at cutting round stencils you’ll need a heart punch for this to work properly. These can be bought relatively cheaply and come in a host of shapes and sizes. Once you’ve got your hands on one of these bad boys, sift through dictionaries, magazines, novels and other literature for romantic words and phrases and punch out the heart shapes accordingly. Arrange them into a frame and you’ll have a stunning gift for your love.
Write your own love story
Are you good with words? If so, wouldn’t it be cool to write your very own love story? Of course, there are a host of dos and don’ts you should follow if you want this to work, but a decent plotline and some fascinating characters will score you some points. Alternatively, if you don’t want to think up a completely new tale, you could always use your own story. Jot down how you met in a creative and imaginative way or create a comic book sketch of your time together and have it printed onto a t-shirt or mug.
The love jar
This idea will need time for it to work properly, so get the ball rolling now for next year. Firstly, buy yourself a jar. Secondly, write down anything fun or interesting that happens between you and your spouse on small strips of paper and pop them inside. Close the lid, don’t peek at what’s been written in the past and don’t let your other half know what you are doing. On your anniversary, present the jar to your partner and watch their face as they pull out all the pieces and read the happy memories you have created. Sweet, eh?
So there you have it, a handful of ideas which are sure to make fabulous homemade anniversary gifts.