Valentine’s Day
Love Letters
Personalizing Gifts With Quotes
What we say to people, especially those we love, matters. Making loving words permanent in some form can be a great way to help the people in our lives remember how much we care. Here are three ideas for personalizing gifts with meaningful quotes.
Spelling It Out
For this first idea, all you need is a 5 by 7-inch frame with a mat, a favourite picture of you and your spouse or you and your child and some stick-on letters. Using stick-on letters ensures that wording looks neat.
You can, of course, print or stick the letters directly onto the mat. I chose to put the letters on the front of the glass because it gave me more leeway for re-positioning them. Then use invisible tape over top of the letters to seal and protect them.
The wording on this frame isn’t an actual quote, just something I made up, but feel free to quote me!
Children will love the reminder that, no matter what, you will always love them. If you’re giving this to your significant other, you could just put a picture of yourself into the frame so your mate can display it on a desk, night stand or dresser.
When picking out letters to use, be sure to buy two or three sheets of the same ones, to ensure you have enough of the same style letters to convey your sentiments. Case in point coming up next.
Love Squared
For this next idea, you will need:
- a large frame with a wide mat, which gave me a lot of space to work with. Again choosing
- a favourite picture
- some letters in a font you like
- some 3-D heart embellishments
- two-sided tape squares.
The wide mat in this frame gave me a lot of space to work with. I had some stick-on letters in a lovely script font on hand.
I’m using a quote from the Bible: “I thank my God every time I think of you.” Phil. 1:30. Of course, you should choose a quote that pleases you.
Distribute the words evenly across the top, down one side and under the picture directly on top of the glass.
I attached the 3D hearts using two-sided tape squares. Cantering the accents down the left side of the picture helps to balance out the overall look.
It’s important to make sure you have enough sheets of the same letters so you don’t run out of a particular letter, as I did here with the h and o in the bottom line. The script lettering was in my stash. When I went back to the dollar store to find the same thing, I found they were no longer in stock, so I used the similarly styled letters in white. While it’s not ideal, I think you get the idea. 🙂
I also used a different letter sheet to finish quoting the chapter and verse at the bottom. The script letter sheets didn’t include numbers but using a different font highlights the source of the quote. (Yeah, I could have used different lettering altogether, but I couldn’t find any I liked as well as the script.)
Mirror, Mirror
Here’s a cute gift idea that doesn’t involve a frame at all. You will need:
- dollar store hand mirror in the colour of your choice
- roll of clear plastic book cover (from the stationary aisle in Dollarama)
- picture with or without a quote (this one is the front of a greeting card from my stash)
- pencil and scissors
Unroll the clear plastic and turn it face down. Trace the shape of the mirror onto the paper backing.
Cut out the shape of the mirror, cutting a bit inside the line. This will prevent you from having to trim the edges, after it’s on the mirror.
I trimmed the card front to fit the back of the hand mirror and rounded the corners. Add a bit of tape to the back of it and center your picture on the mirror.
Remove the backing from the plastic cover. Carefully line it up on the back of the mirror to completely cover it. You can re-position, but be careful not to cause damage to the picture in the process.
Sit the completed mirror on a dresser or hang it on the wall as an additional piece of art when it’s not in use.
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