We needed to step it up in the ROMANCE department on the site, so I called in a favor from a pro. Tara, from The Dating Divas, pulled through with a gift idea/tutorial especially for us! I wish I would have known about this brilliant idea last month when I desperately needed a 30th birthday gift idea for my husband.
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My name is Tara and I am married to one SMOKIN’ hot man named Jamie!!
I told ya he was HOT!! {WINK}He is my perfect match as well as the inspiration behind my blogging!!
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TODAY I am going to share a FABULOUS present I came up with this past July to celebrate another birthday for my man. I wanted to make sure it was an extremely memorable one….so, of course, I had to come up with an amazing present, right!?!
I don’t know about you…but for me – presents that come from the heart mean SOOO much more than anything you can buy from a store! I would think up a great idea…and then decide it just wasn’t heartfelt enough. FINALLY, a little inspiration came my way! I found a fun website that lets you create your own magazine cover!! I really liked the idea but instead of just creating a cover, I decided to put together an ENTIRE magazine dedicated to my man!! Just thinking about it made me smile! 🙂
I went right to work! My first step was to photoshop the front cover of Jamie’s magazine using a picture of both of us. Wa-LAH…here is my final project….
I then sent an email out to ALL of our friends and family. I let everyone know what I was up to for Jamie’s upcoming birthday and asked if they could please send me back a memorable story about Jamie along with a picture of the two of them. We recently moved to another state far away from all family and most of our friends, which is another reason I figured this would be a much appreciated present. Who wouldn’t want to read special stories about themselves written by loved ones….especially when we don’t get to see a lot of those people as often as we would like?!? 🙂
Hint: Email friends and family members WAY before your spouse’s birthday! You don’t want “crunch time” to creep up on you and find that you are still waiting on some people to send their stories in!!
When the stories & pictures started rolling in, I began putting them into a “magazine-style” layout in Microsoft Word. (BTW – prepare to LAUGH at some of those photos! I sure did!!) Here are some examples of a few layouts below:
You know how writers usually have a little somethin’-somethin’ about themselves after you read an article?? Well, I thought that would be a fun touch so I included a mini-description of each person after their story. Here’s an example of what MINE said:
Yep, when you create the present…you have TOTAL control over what it says about you! {lol} Here are a few other “blurbs” about some of the other “authors”:
(And yes….”Heiner” is spelled correctly! lol)
I took all of my page layouts and my photoshopped front cover to Kinko’s to have them print it. I LOVED the semi-glossy look that the magazine cover had! It looked so real!!
Back at home, I found an old magazine and I began adhering my OWN pages on top of the pre-existing pages. I left a few of the original articles in (they had to do with love) as well as some of the more interesting advertisements. I tore out all of the pages that were left over.
OH!! Don’t forget to type up a “Letter From The Editor”…which is YOU!! {WINK} In that letter, you basically explain that this magazine is a special feature all about your loved one. You can click on my picture below to enlarge it to see what I wrote.
(Isn’t that a crazy advertisment on the right!! So fun!)
Now, presentation is pretty important!! I thought it would be funny to have a “mannequin” dressed up in his clothes…holding the magazine. Just use pillows and crinkled up newspaper to stuff the clothes. (A twist on this would be to buy all brand-new clothes to put on the mannequin…as part of his present.) I enlisted the help of Jamie’s talented l’il brother who drew a face on a balloon. Here was our finished product:
Jamie was a little leery of his “twin”!! 🙂 We were all laughing pretty hard! I almost included a picture of Jamie’s face when he first saw the figure sitting there in his clothing…he had SUCH a funny expression on his face! I decided to spare him the embarrassment! :)Although he wasn’t so sure about the mannequin…
…he LOVED the magazine!!
Here is a pic of the two of them together…{lol} His sweet Grandma called while we were opening presents…in case you were wondering who was important enough to take presidence over my amazing gift! 🙂
You wanted to see a few upclose pictures of the INSIDE of the magazine??
OK, here ya go:
Now, there was a SPECIAL sUrPrIsE for Jamie on the back cover. My funny (and crazy) uncle sent in a picture layout that made ALL of us blush and laugh our heads off at the same time! I am soooooo not gonna tell you what it was…but you can see Jamie’s reaction below:
I can honestly say the present was a HIT! Jamie told me multiple times afterwards how much it meant to him! (Oh yeah, and did I mention that my husband is NOT a reader?!?)
Now, if this is something you would love to do for your OWN hot man….but just don’t have the photoshopping skills…no worries! You can go to MagMyPic…and they will do the work FOR you! (I was actually inspired by one of their designs when doing my own!)
Here is one I did using a layout from MagMyPic:
I just HAD to do one for our adorable yorkie, Jaxston!! He had JUST snatched Jamie’s credit card which had fallen on the ground….OOPS!!
….and THAT is how you create a Magazine For Yer Man!! 🙂
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Do you want some more where that came from?
I am part of a 12-member blogging team over at The Dating Divas. We were flattered when the HowDoesShe gals featured us back in June!! 🙂
So, what is OUR blog about?? Well, I am LUCKY enough to have wonderful friends who all adore their husbands as much as I do!! My friends and I decided that we were letting LIFE get in the way…and we weren’t spending as much time focusing on our amazing spouses as we would like! We were forgetting to slow down and continue to date the person we were going to spend the rest of our lives with.
Our solution?!? To collaborate on amazing & creative date ideas, fun gift ideas for our spouses, family activities to help strengthen the love in our homes, great cooking tips, quick & easy romance ideas, and MUCH, much more!! ANYTHING that would help enhance our already ROCKIN’ marriages!! We even decided to share tips on how to look good for our man AND ideas on how to keep things HOT in a certain room…..
…but you are gonna have to visit our blog for THAT! 😉
Stop on by The Dating Divas to get more ROMANCE tips so you can keep dating that amazing spouse of yours! We love spreading the word about our blog….and we hope it will strengthen YOUR relationship as much as it has ours!!
Thanks for letting me be a “HowDoesShe” gal today! I just CAN’T get enough of this blog!! 🙂 I am a HUGE, huge, HUGE fan! These gals are SO dang talented and I absolutely adore Shelley!! (If ya don’t know her…you are missing out!)
Thanks for the ‘shout out’ Tara! 😉 We could all use a little extra help in this department right? You won’t regret stumbling across this blog.
And send your husband the link while your at it! Heck, send my husband the link too! 😉
AJ says
Sorry but I’m not sending my husband to the site b/c then he’ll know none of my ideas are actually mine…and isn’t dishonesty the key to a happy marriage?
I am SO making this for him for Christmas. I have been pretending I was going to make him a scrapbook for the last 5 years but alas, it has yet to be started. This will be perfect, thank you for sharing!
Lynn from For Love or Funny says
I can’t wait to visit your blog – and I LOVE the gift you made for your husband! So neat!!!
.-= Lynn from For Love or Funny´s last blog ..Today- I’ll be anxious until 3-30pm =-.
Alison says
Love this idea. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful pictures. Beautiful post.
Amy @ Blowout Party! says
What an incredible gift! You obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. You’re both gorgeous!
.-= Amy @ Blowout Party!´s last blog ..From the Closet- Gorgeous Headbands by Dolce Vita Mia =-.
Penny says
Wow! I am SO impressed! Thanks for sharing such a memorable gift. That gives me something to work toward. My hubby’s birthday is 6 months from today!
Monica says
UH-MAZING!!!!! Love it! Do you create it and take it in to a printer to put it together or how does that work? I love this for Christmas!!!!
Monica says
sorry! I see you already wrote you took it to Kinko’s!! Awesome!!
Celeste says
This is soo awesome! I think I just might have to do this for my hubby for Christmas. He is soo hard to shop for but really loves photo gifts! SOO excited! 🙂
em says
Cute-Cute-Cute! What a fun idea!
Lisa says
Tara, you are inspiring! Thank you for sharing your creativeness! I am soo loving the mag idea!
Red Head says
What an incredible idea! WOW! I’m going to do this for my Hubby’s 40th birthday next year, for sure! Thanks!
Tara says
Awww…..you guys are making me BLUSH!! Thanks!! I hope your men all LOVE it, too! 🙂
.-= Tara´s last blog ..Beauty on a Budget =-.
Corinna says
Okay, is it just ME or is anyone else just DYING to know what that back cover has on it? 🙂
This is the coolest thing I think I’ve ever seen! So clever and so personalized. I totally want to do this for my husband’s birthday in October.
.-= Corinna´s last blog ..U Rock! =-.
Tara says
Corianna…my lips are SEALED!! 🙂 [lol} Seriously…totally blushing right now…even THINKING about telling your guys! When my OWN family saw it…..my little niece glanced at it (age 8) and then with a puzzled look on her face moved in for a closer look. I have never seen my sister-in-law move so fast! She snatched that magazine right up to hide it, took a closer look herself, and turned red as she doubled over with laughter.
Anyway….my suggestion would be to put something TOTALLY unexpected on the back cover…..makes it more fun!!
.-= Tara´s last blog ..Patio Prom Date& Giveaway!! =-.
Triwania says
My son, a sports fanatic since birth, recently told me that he could hardly wait to be on front of a sports magazine. When I saw this post, I almost cried thinking of the things I could put in a magazine. He is only turning eleven and he so deserves this. Don’t be surprised if you get emails with questions! Thanks for the idea!
Christie says
WOW I just loved this idea so much I’ve already got 16 pages in my man’s 30th birthday magazine, and haven’t even got any contributions yet – thanks for the great idea!
.-= Christie´s last blog ..Spring Challenge Day 5 23 days to go =-.
Barbara says
My man was turning 50 last year and though he never said anything directly I could tell that the hit his business had taken over the last couple of years was taking the “I should have been further along in my career than this.” toll.
He did NOT want a party and if fact for a short time he had considered spending his birthday alone. I was looking for something meaningful, supportive and inexpensive when I came upon this great magazine idea over on The Dating Divas.
I worked on it for about 4 months and it turned out GREAT! I asked current and past coworkers and friends as well as family and kids he had coached to simply compose something about him/for him and they responded beautifully with poems and stories that made him laugh and cry. He told me over and over it was absolutely the perfect gift. He said it made him feel like George Bailey in the last scene of It’s a Wonderful Life.
Now it is almost a year later, his business is on an upswing and we can afford for me to spend more on his gift, but it wouldn’t matter if I had millions, I doubt I will ever be able to give him anything more valuable that the magazine. It was perfect.
Missy says
THank you for sharing that! That is so awesome. I love gifts like these – they mean more to get and to give!