52 Reasons Why I Love You

As a gift for my boyfriend on our six-month anniversary, I made a book of "52 Reasons Why I Love You" with a deck of playing cards. Ok, I'll admit that I was totally opposed to the idea at first because it's the roses and chocolate of the diy gift world. In other words: cliche and unimaginative. The more I perused the internet for homemade gift ideas, however, the more this book popped up in so many unique and different ways. I decided that this gift is actually incredibly special. It is as unique and personal as you want it to be. Besides, who wouldn't want a book full of reasons why they're awesome?

First, I came up with 52 things I love about my boyfriend. I was so excited to find how easy this part was. The hard part was deciding which reasons I wasn't going to include because I came up with too many. (I'm thinking another project is at hand!) My handwriting sucks, so I typed all the reasons out in 14 pt font and set the document to 3 columns in order to get the right width. Then, I cut out all the reasons and glued them to each card with a regular glue stick. For the inside covers (Joker cards), I wrote him a little letter and put our anniversary dates on the back.

Because I'm away at college and don't have standard craft supplies like colored paper, glitter pens, stickers, or even a color printer, this project came out very simple and un-embellished. For the accent colors on the cover, I literally tore colored pieces off of posters and flyers in my residence hall's lobby. Yup, this is an eclectic, recycled work of art. I would have liked to include a picture of us on one of the covers, but again, I didn't have a color printer and anything black and white was too grainy.

The worst part about the whole process was individually hole-punching all 54 cards, twice. That's 108 loud noises to piss my roommates off and 108 tiny circles scattered on my floor. But it was worth it. In the end, I wanted to keep the book for myself, this labor of love. My boyfriend loved it though.

This project only cost me $5.08 for the deck of cards and 1-inch metal rings, plus about 5 hours of my time. Still, I'd say this gift has more heart, thought, and love than a lot of typical "I love you" gifts. So go surprise someone you love! Get a little creative and make this book for your mom, best friend, or any other person who you want to make feel special. Inspiration.

On Repeat: "Bette Davis Eyes" - Kim Carnes
# of times I've watched The Princess Diaries this school year: 3

# of coffee shop visits this school year: 4