Custom calendar idea

As the implied description in the introductory paragraph suggests, this gift will overwhelm your girlfriend/wife. She will be taken over by the emotion, and will be searching all over for the words; instead, she will come and put her arms around your neck planting a passionate kiss on your lips. The idea is to give her a custom-made calendar using her images or the images of the most romantic moments you shared.

Creating the custom calendar

The most important skill required to create this gift is your imagination. You will also need tools like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp (open source), and Adobe Indesign or Quark Express to give a definite shape to your imagination. Start with making the layout for the calendar, but before starting the designing work, you can consider visiting the Internet, and search for the available calendar designs. The objective behind this exercise this activity is to draw inspiration from some professionally made world-class calendar. If you are a designer by profession or passion, and feel you can come up with a really innovative design then skip this step, and move to the next step.

By now, after going through a handful of professional calendars, you must have got idea about what you want to create. If you are still clueless, take a professional calendar of your choice and mimic the layout using Adobe Indesign or Quark Express. Once you are done with creating the basic layout, you should move to dig twelve most beautiful images (one each for one each month of the year) from your digital photo albums (preferably), or from your collections of printed photographs.

Scan the images using at least 300dpi resolution (the higher the resolution better will be the effect), if you have selected printed photographs. Optimize all twelve images for sizes and quality using Adobe Photoshop or Gimp.

The next step is to select the appropriate font for the calendar. If you want you can buy a commercial font, or search for the free versions. Browse through the online font directories or search the Internet to find the font suitable for the mood you want to create.

Take the layout you have created, and use the chosen font to write days, dates, months and year of the calendar. You can use your system’s calendar as a point of reference while creating the custom calendar. Now, it’s time to put images in the designated boxes. You can personalize the super gift even further by adding personal messages as captions to each of the twelve images. A romantic note each on every page of the calendar can also be placed near the bottom. You will need a different font to write the personal message and the romantic note.

Create a cover for the custom calendar using a thin translucent film. Craft a beautiful custom message like the following and write it using a golden or silver handwriting or calligraphy font:

“For my love…

…just to say, how much I love you!

…yours Coochypoo”

Final step

Getting this custom calendar printed will not be very difficult. There are many web-based printers that will help you in getting this custom gift printed. You can even search your local business directory for the printers specializing in this kind of job. Ask for samples and rates, and go with the one who does the best job at the most competitive price. Always remember, this gift is for your love so quality should come first not the price. She will love you for this.

This personalized romantic gift consists of two parts: form and substance (read content). I will begin with discussing substance (content) of this super gift and will move forward towards describing the form.

Writing letter (substance)

More than anything, what’s the content of the message delivered in the bottle will matter more to your girl; hence, you need to cherry-pick the words for the personal message. In this case, focus more on the depth of the message and the eloquence of the writing style, instead of focusing on the length of the message.

The core essence of the message could be a plain heart-felt “I love you”, or it could be “I wanted to say how much I missed you since yesterday evening, when we last met”. Do not make the letter look run of the mill. Letter should not imitate the mechanical phrases written on any greeting card. Make the letter personal as if you have poured your heart into every word written there.

You can use an old-looking paper or a parchment paper to write the personal message, and if you wish you can carefully burn the edge on any one side of the scroll to give the letter an authentic “old world” and “shipwrecked” feel. You can even submerge it into yellowish muddy water to give it a more authentic look.

Crafting bottle (form)

The bottle in which the message will be delivered is not only a delivery vehicle in this case, but it is an integral part of the message. The beauty of the bottle will express how much effort you put in to create this beautiful super gift; hence you should carefully choose the shape of the bottle you will use to deliver the message. Craft a short but elegant personal message and get it laser engraved on the surface of the bottle. Purchase a nice cork, a big alloy key, and also collect some sands, shells and pebbles that will go inside the bottle.

Getting a personal message engraved on the bottle’s surface is not a big deal. You can easily find a person or shop that does laser engraving. You can also search the Internet for the same, and for the bottle, you should visit the antique shop in your city. Alternatively, you can purchase the bottle from online Antique shop. I will suggest going for a fancy-shaped bottle. I would prefer a colorless Egyptian looking bottle. A colored bottle with distinct shape will also serve the purpose. This is basically a matter of personal choice.

Message in the bottle (bringing form and substance together)

First, take the letter with the personalized message and roll it into a scroll. Use a fancy ribbon to tie a knot around it. Keep this letter aside, and take sand, pebbles and shells. Put them inside the bottle. Now it’s time to put the scroll inside before corking it up. Wrap the super gift either in a red, shiny satin, or put it in a red velvet pouch. You can also use red, transparent wrapping plastic.

Instead of using decorative ribbon, you should hang the big alloy key, the key to your heart, in a gold chain or a golden string coiled around the neck of the bottle to make this personalized gift more romantic.

To make the romantic gift more special, you can also consider getting your name and “key to my heart” embossed on the key. This obviously depends upon your taste and your budget.

The custom blanket Idea

When we marry, we have many things to take care of. We are starting a new family, so we need to buy a number of small and big things for daily uses. Hence, I am suggesting here a custom gift that not only will protect them, keep the newly-wed couple warm, and create a cozy environment for them in the favorite corner of their room, but it will also strike one important thing out from the couple’s to-buy list. This way you will help the newly-wed couple in starting a new life. A blanket with a personalized message woven in the corner is the gift I am suggesting you to give to your friend, friend’s son/ daughter or, family friend’s son/daughter on his or her wedding. It will help them in starting a new life, and this super gift will last many years that essentially means you will not be forgotten for years to come.

Personalizing the blanket

The process of creating a personalized blanket starts with writing the personal message you want to put at the corner of the blanket. Write a small message wishing the couple happy married life and sign the message with your name’s initials. Keep the initials at the corner and use a very small font to write them. Make the initials almost invisible. Do not make the initials visible from distance. How many people do you know who will like to use any gift that has the name (s) of the giver prominently visible from a distance?

While crafting the personal message, always remember, the custom gift you are giving will be used for many years, so an attempt should be made to make the message timeless. The meaning of the message should not lose relevance after a passage of time.

Once the message is ready, it’s time to shop for the blanket. The size, design and the quality of the blanket depends upon your taste and budget. If you want your personalized gift to be of some practical value for the recipient, buy the blanket that suits the recipient taste. You do not need to go very far stretching your budget. You can do this within your budget as well. All you need to do is some research.

The next step in the creation of this super gift is printing or weaving and stitching of the personal message at the corner of the blanket. As you guessed, I am suggesting here two options: either you can get the message woven by a professional embroidery maker at the corner of the blanket, or you can get it printed on a 4X4 inches leather piece, or velvet cloth, etc.

The look and feel of the output will depend upon the quality of the embroidery maker for the former alternative and the quality of printing company for the latter option. Finding neither a good quality embroidery maker will be difficult, nor will finding a good reliable company to make a squarish label be nerve-wracking.

Do not forget to ask question. Ask as many questions as you want to ask while purchasing blanket or shopping for a professional or a company to get the message part created and affixed to the blanket. Get a nice wrap for the super gift and a broad smile for your lips before entering the marriage party.