Valentines Bits To Buy & DIY

Evening one and all, and welcome to my bumper Valentines post! 

This first section is a bit of an alternative gift guide. There's no real structure: there's crazy stuff, cute stuff, guy stuff and girl stuff. Who says valentines gifts need to be a lovey dovey heart fest? Hopefully you'll find something a bit different to buy your beau or something to ask them to buy you! Failing that, maybe you'll have some laughs at my finds...

♥ Bookrest lamp, £37.95, ClickShop (I would love to get this for Alex!)

♥ His 'n' Hers Tongue Scrapers, £6 Urban Outfitters (EW! My friend Jen would totally dig these, though.)

♥ My Side, Your Side Pillowcases, £26.75, Not On The High Street

♥ Pick Master, £19.75, ClickShop (How cool is this?! It turns anything into a plectrum!)

♥ Pug Egg Cup, £8.50, Maiden (Just Aww.)

♥ Cat Egg Cup, £10.95, Liberty (    "      "   )

♥ Tea Infuser, £14, Urban Outfitters  

♥ Mug, £17.50, Sweet William Designs @ Not On The Hight Street

♥ Love Beanstalk Pod, £12.49, I Want One Of Those (This is insane. It's a plant which grows with a love message imprinted in the leaves! Watch the vid via the link if you want to find out more!)

♥ Gemma Correll Card, £2.50, Soma Gallery

♥ Anatomical Heart Jelly Mould, £6.99, I Want One Of Those (SO flipping cool!)

♥ Kissing Disease Plushie, £6.95, GIANTmicrobes (Who knew germs could be so cute? Loads of awesome plushies on the website, a must-see!)

♥ 7/10 Card, £2.75, Lazy Oaf

♥ Bee My Honey Balm, £4, Paperchase

I've been bookmarking various DIY projects for a while to share with you all as I think handmade Valentines gifts can be a lot more meaningful, and let's face it, cheap! 

The first one is my own project, although I haven't shown the exact design I shall be giving to Alex as I know he won't be able to go a week without stalking the blog and spoiling the surprise! 

So, I have been making magnetic bookmarks! They are a handy alternative to ordinary bookmarks as they don't fall out. You can also line it up along the side of the book so you can remember what line you were on! I got the idea from some children's bookmarks I saw in WH Smith and thought I'd give it a go...

The pretty lady graphic is from Eat Drink Chic, and is shown further down this post in its original context! I changed it a bit to make it into a foldable bookmark, and made my first ever PDF printable if you'd like to make use any of the above designs yourself. Just click here to open it, and for instructions on how to make your own Dymo label designs! 

To start out, I printed my designs on card. Mine was 240gsm, but I think thicker would be ideal! 

 

After folding the designs in half, I stuck on 2 pieces of magnetic tape on either end of the reverse of the bookmark, so they match up and close neatly. Done! (My tape cost £1.25 on eBay, but you'll want to try and request express delivery if poss!)

Here are some other amazing ideas from around the web (click the links to find the full tutorials):

Filling a pill box with little treats and love notes! Aww! Kinnnnda late for it now, but if you get your skates on, maybe your loved one can eat a few days in a row! ;) 

Eat Drink Chic created these amazing printable bits and bobs for a Valentines Couch Picnic Date! I love the little 'Admit One' tickets!

This Origami heart bookmark looks a bit fiddly but the end result is so cute!

These Coffee Cup Wrappers are from Eat Drink Chic. I don't have coffee cups (MUST get some!) so I can't really use this one but it's too adorable not to share.

They also turned the design into a little card and envelope:

Adorable printable giftwrap (the doggy one is my fave!):

Oh hi, DIY heart nail polish!

This printable lunch bag is really sweet, and the design could be printed onto anything, really. A card or gift bag for example!

Find these cute ladies and loads of lovely printables here! 

This croc is on the above link, too! Sounds a bit fiddly for me, but looks so cool! You can put sweets in his body! 

A great roundup of retro valentines printables on Heart Handmade

I can't get over how cool this scratch card idea is! I found another technique for making scratch cards here, too. So fun! 

I think these handmade chocolate wrappers are a cute idea. Don't think my boyfriend would appreciate the girly factor, but you could do something cool with it like use a map or comic strip or Playboy depending on your beau's interests! ;) 

Yes, it's another bookmark tutorial (can you tell my boyfriend is a huge bookworm?), but this one is built in with the valentines card! Two birds, one stone.

These felt Fortune Cookies  are a super cute way to show you care! Maybe a fun alternative to valentines vouchers? (ie. 'This entitles you to 10 minutes of back-scratching, moan-free!) There is a crochet version of this on Youtube for those who can! 

And I'm spent! 

I think this is the longest I've ever spent on a post, so I hope you've found some inspiration here! Do you have any cool ideas of your own to share? Spill! 

♥