“If the word is the act of love, I can love you in more ways than you can ever imagine.” Love in any language sounds sweet, it becomes sweeter when expressed in many ways, but expressing your love in thousand different Languages will surely blow his/her mind away.

Fostering love: The idea behind the gift

From Bengali Aamee tuma ke bhalo baashi to Farsi Doset daram to German Ich liebe dich to Gujarati Hoo thunay prem karoo choo to French Je t’aime and Je t’adore to Dutch Ik hou van jou to Slovak Lu’bim to Yiddish Ikh hob dikh lib, each phrase speaks volume about your love. The idea is to create a custom t-shirt with a heart filled with I love you written in 1000 (or as many as you can, but at least 100) different languages. This give will give him/her more than one reason to believe how much you love him/her, and will remember it every time he/she stands in front of a mirror wearing the t-shirt you gifted.

Creating this super gift is not difficult, and it will be more fun than you think. To make this gift, you will need a pre-shrunk t-shirt, preferably white, a collection of I love you in different languages, a little bit of knowledge of illustration, and enthusiasm to see this work through.

Finding love: Research & explanation

Begin with researching the Internet for different ways to say I love you. Just typing “I love you in different languages” in Google will fetch you the result you are looking for. Use Microsoft Excel to make a list: in one column write the name of the language, and in the second column write the way I love you is written in that language. Keep this list handy.

In explaining this custom gift idea, I have used a plain white t-shirt, but you can take the creative liberty and experiment with color and design. You need to keep in mind that the text written on the t-shirt should contrast with the color of the t-shirt. For example: if you choose a black color t-shirt then you can consider writing the “I love yous” in florescent green, white or neon colors. If you want, you can play with the design as well. In making this gift, you are limited only by your imagination.

The next step in the process is to illustrate the design you want to put on the t-shirt.  You can either use pencil, eraser, sharpener, scale and paper to draw the design concept that you have in your mind or you can use illustration software like Adobe Illustrator, or Corel Draw to get the output.

Crafting Love: Creating the custom t-shirt Design

Begin with taking measurement of the chest-area of the t-shirt. For the measurement you can use a t-shirt of the recipient. Mark the measurement on a sheet of paper, in case you are using paper and pencil, or create a new page of the size you got from the measurement if you are using software to do the illustration work. This step should be followed by creating a wireframe that will be filled with the “I love yous”. You have two option, either to create a big heart with a 2.5-pixel border and fill the “I love yous” in it. The second option is to make any primary shape and write all the “I love yous” in it using black font. Make a second layer on top of it, and draw a heart with a 1.50-pixel border on it. Keep the fill part of the heart blank and paint the border with cherry-red color.

Now, select all the “I love yous” that falls within the boundary of the heart, and change its color to red. You can also delete one or two “I love yous” from the center of the heart, and write a personalized message to the recipient. If you want, you can use a different color to make this message prominent, or else you can write the message using same font and same color. This will maintain the subtlety of the message, which can also be very powerful.

Getting a custom t-shirt printed is not a big deal, nowadays. If you couldn’t find a good quality custom t-shirt in your locality then search the Internet, and you will get many options to choose from. There are online services that not only print custom design on a standard t-shirt, but they also give you an option to design t-shirt from scratch for printing.

Lovey-dovey idea

This gift is designed for busy professional who often hears complains about his busy schedules, and about not having enough time for his wife. This gift will tell his wife how wrong she was in accusing him of not having time for her. The idea is to gift her one soft, red heart-shaped box full of small heart-shaped cards with personalized messages written on each of them.

Creating the super gift

The first step in the process of creating this super gift is to find a heart-shaped box. You can easily find an elegant, heart-shaped box in any gift store near you, or you can even scan through the online retailers like Amazon, eBay etc. for the box. I will suggest you to choose a red box with velvety or satin upholstery. Make sure the box has enough sponge or foam padding to give the box soft feeling.

Now, it’s time to write personalized messages, but before that make one hundred small hearts of equal sizes. If you find it difficult to make one hundred hearts of equal sizes then follow the instruction given below:

1.       Take a thin sheet of metal (Steel), and make a heart-shaped stencil out of it.

2.       Sandpaper the edges so that it becomes smooth.

3.       Take a slightly thinner cardboard or chart paper (the one on which you did your school projects).

4.       Put this stencil on the piece of paper.

5.       Take a sharp blade or knife.

6.       Move the blade around the edges of the heart-shaped stencil, and repeat it until you make one hundred hearts.

Note: You should use different colors of cardboards to add colors to the super gift.

The final step: start writing one personalized message each on each heart-shaped card. You should write the message yourself as it should look personal. Give an account of the time you spent together. Talk about those little chit-chats you had over cups of tea; about solitary walks through the jungle; about sitting under banyan tree in a sunny day; about walking on the road in rain, etc. These things will have more profound effect than the mere “I missed you,” “Tight Hug,” “I Love You,” etc. A message like the one suggested above not only say how much you love her, but it also says how much you cherish the time you spent together. She is going to love you for this.

You can get the personal messages printed using handwriting or calligraphy fonts, if you do not want to use a pen to write the personal messages. You can also decorate the heart-shaped cards, if you want to.

If you are planning to go for printing option then I will suggest using image editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp, or illustration software like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, or Corel Draw to create the heart-shaped cards of different colors. You can search the Internet for the heart template. The template will save your time.

Sealing the heart with a kiss

Now, it is time to put all heart-shaped cards in the big red heart-shaped box. You can also keep some candies, decorative ribbons, miniature toys etc. in the box. Put the big red heart-shaped box in a nice looking, elegant box, wrap it up and give it to her with a rose and a sweet kiss.

Valentine proposal idea explained

If you are seeing a girl for many years then no gift for her will be as special as a proposal for marriage on the coming Valentine Day. She always wanted to marry, and was waiting to hear it from you. Now, as you have decided to ask her, why not do it in style on the coming Valentine Day?

The above paragraph answers when of the gift idea (when to propose her), but the real excitement of this idea lies in how of the super gift idea (how to propose), which I am going to discuss in the rest of the article.

The idea is to use a series of professionally illustrated images to help her imagine how beautiful her life would be with you, ten years down the line. Show her how future would look like, if you are together.

Creating the proposal for your Valentine

Hire some professional illustrator, if you are not an expert in illustrating freehand, or even by using illustration software like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape (open source), or Corel Draw.  Ask for appropriate samples before assigning the work of crafting your future scenario to any professional. Do not go by if-it-is-expensive-it-is-going-to-be-the-best mentality when shopping for a professional illustrator. A good illustrator need not be expensive.

The next step, or rather the very first step in the process is to write the story imagining how beautiful your lives will be when spent together. To get the clearer view of the future, you need to spend some time alone, all with yourself, away from people, away from cell phones, away from the Internet, etc. and then start visualizing the future. Close your eyes and sit tight. The future will start coming to you thorough sights and sounds. Write these thoughts down on a piece of paper. Write ten captivating short stories that can be retold by the help of illustrated images. Each story should talk about just one specific situation at any one point in future. You can choose to talk about how you will go together on family vacation with kids; about how you will cook the daily meal together; about the activities you will do together, etc.

Ask the illustrator to capture these moments as colorfully as he or she can. Make the illustration colorful, it will elicit positive emotions in the recipient. Use vibrant colors for elements in the foreground, and pastel shades for the elements forming the background against which your illustrations will stand out. Give the illustrator one of your recent pictures and one of your beloved’s to use as reference.

Get each of the illustrated images printed on a thick photo paper, and the size of each image should not be less than 10X12 inches. There are many online printing services provider that specialize in photo printing. Use the one who use the most advanced printing technology.

Proposing your valentine

Now, it’s time to propose her. Take a bunch of fresh red roses, the pack containing all ten illustrations, get on your knees, and start giving each of the images one by one while narrating the stories illustrated in the pictures before asking her to marry you. She will be thrilled, and will retell this incidence to everyone whom she can tell.

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 Romantic Journey

Everyone has a story to tell, some embarrassing ones and some lovey-dovey kind. Create a beautiful romance journal consisting of all the little stories of how you felt before meeting her, what you did, how you arrange money for the dinner, your appointment with dentist etc. Gifting your girlfriend a personalized romance journal on 2^nd or 3^rd year’s valentine day will thrill your girlfriend. And the fact that you are sharing even those nervous moments of your life with your girlfriend will make her love you more. The romance journal will give a personal account of the things you did from the day you saw and liked her to the day you got together.

Romanticizing the story

The personalized romance journal I am proposing here will prove how human you are. No one likes superman, and no one expect you to be just perfect. Everyone knows you are human, so accepting that you were nervous before meeting her, or you were sweating when talking to her over phone for the first time will prove how honest and how human you are. This is the essence of the Romance Journal I am asking you to create. By removing the layer of superman off you, the journal will uncover the real you.

To create the page layout and over of this super gift, you will need a page designing software like Adobe Indesign or Quark Express. You will also need a photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp (open source) to design the cover for the journal as well as to optimize the image, if you are planning to use some.

If you can write beautifully then well and good, but if you cannot, then along with these tools, you will also need help of a professional writer to carve a sculpture from the raw experiences you will provide him written on a sheet of paper or in a word document. Even if you hire a professional writer to do the final writing work, you will have to write down the experiences you had and the thoughts that came to your mind before meeting your beloved. The information you will provide to the writer will work as a raw material from which a beautiful statue of love will be carved for you.

Finding a writer is not difficult, but finding a good writer that meets your need is slightly difficult, but do not lose hope, you will find one. Ask for two or three sample articles before giving the writer the responsibility to write your romance journal. A badly written journal will ruin the effect you want to create. Undertake this activity (writing) at least two months in advance. It will give you enough time to hire another writer, if the first one did not work to your satisfaction. It would be beneficial for you to find a writer who can do the image editing and layout creation work as well. This will save you some good dollars.

The process of creating the personalized gift will begin with writing short accounts of the things that you did to prepare for the date, or the mental notes you took before calling her. You need to write about the little stuffs that seemed important then but now seem completely useless, and even thinking about that embarrasses you. write about your visit to the dentist, or about the tips your friends gave you, or help you sought from experts on the Internet, or the money you borrowed from your friends for the big dinner, or the days you wasted in preparing for the meeting, or the time you spent in thinking what to say after calling her, or about those blank calls that you gave her just to hear her voice, etc.

After the writing is done, hand the written material over to the writer (if you have hired someone to do the final writing). Keep a close eye on the progress, and see if the writer is writing to your satisfaction or not, and if he or she is able to express your true emotion or not.

Meanwhile, you can shortlist the images you want to use at appropriate places in your personal romance journal. You can even use an image for the cover, if you want to put a picture on it. Optimize the selected images and start designing the cover. The design of the cover will depend upon the content of the journal, so first get the journal written, and then go for the cover designing.

You should use a good quality printer to get your journal printed. You can find many good printers on the Internet. Contact them ask for their samples, and rates. I will recommend going for digital printing. Color reproduction in digital printing is better than that in offset or screen printing.

Make him the lord of the ring or her the lady of the ring

Though this gift idea is unisex, it requires two different styles of rings for each of the sexes. Using just one type of ring, a circular ring with engraving on it is also permissible for both the sexes, but I have assumed in writing this gift idea that you will choose different rings for different sexes.

The idea is to gift a ring on the valentine day with a personalized message engraved on it. You can also gift this gift on your marriage anniversary.

The resources you need

Despite all its attractiveness, and all its emotion quotient, this super gift is not going to make you sweat. This is one of the easiest gifts to create. To create this custom ring, all you need is a little bit of creativity, an ability to search the Internet, a romantic heart, and a strong desire to make him or her feel special. If you wish, and you have a knack for jewelry designing, or you know someone who can do this work for you then you can even consider getting the ring designed.

The Ring in the making

To create this custom gift, you need to begin with conducting an online research for the company that specializes in creating rings with the personalized message. Alternatively, you can also get the ring designed, as stated above. Visit a local jeweler to get the ring crafted. Even if you are planning to get a ring created for your beloved, I will suggest you to conduct a research on the Internet to know the design options you have. It is better to search the Internet for the designs of the ring before requesting a friend or a professional to design a ring for you then to wait until the person churns out a ring from his or her imagination. The later approach will be more time consuming.

I will suggest you to search the Internet and make a list consisting of 5-10 ring designs, and then approach the jewelry designer to get one of them designed. Sometime during the process, you also need to visit the jeweler and see if they have enough talent to craft the ring with the required delicacy. The jewelry designer as well as the jeweler will ask about the material you want to use for the ring. Depending upon your taste, budget and the design’s requirement, you can go for either silver, gold, white gold, platinum or mixture of any two metals. A stainless steel ring also looks classy, so this option should also not be ruled out.

The process of finalizing the design, getting the blueprint from the designer, and getting the final output from the jeweler will take some time. If you are in hurry, you can search for the company that can engrave a personalized message you want on the ring using laser gun. As said above, there are many online companies that can help you in getting this done. These companies do have a good range of different kinds of ring ideal for either of the sexes.

At any convenient time before the ring goes to the jeweler or to the online company of your choice for crafting, you need to write a personalized message that will get engraved on the ring. Keeping in mind the longevity of a ring, I will suggest you to write a message that is timeless. I will suggest against writing something like “Happy Valentine Day 2009″ or “Happy 21^st Marriage Anniversary”. Instead, write something like “I think of you when someone says Love” or “For me love means you”.

One word of caution: Seeing the limitation of the medium, limit the number of words in the personalized message to five, and ask the jeweler to fill the engraved message with a contrast color. For example: if you are using stainless steel, silver, platinum or white gold then the text engraved should be of pitch-black color, and if you are going for gold then use cherry-red to paint the engraved message. Do not hesitate to experiment, but do a test run of the color combination on a sheet of paper or on a computer before finalizing the color combination.

In many cases, you do not need to go to a jewelry designer to get your ring designed, instead what you can do is search a ring design from the Internet, and go directly to the jeweler to get your ring made.