DIY Gift for Him: (25) Reasons Why I Love You

Monday I talked about Will's birthday (which was last Friday) and how we celebrated it. He turned 25, or how I like to think of it, he's been alive now for a quarter of a century! I'm the sentimental type and those dear to me tend to be as well. I always mull over gift ideas for weeks before holidays because I do really like to give things that have meaning. Because of this I tend to be a gift maker. I even handmade every single gift I gifted last Christmas! Handmade things just pack so much meaning, personality, and creativeness into a gift. Plus they are great for people, like me, who are on a tight budget but still want to show someone some love.

Ideally, if I had the cash to blow, I would have bought a whole slew of new backpacking gear for Will for his birthday. I know he loved my homemade things though. I thought it would also be a great idea to do a little booklet of sorts instead of a card. Since he was turning 25, I titled it 25 Reason Why I Love You. See below how I created this simple little booklet for him.

How to Make a Card Booklet

What you'll need: To create a booklet similar to mine you'll need some card-stock paper, cardboard (or another sturdy material) for the cover, foam stamps, paint, a paint brush, small letter stamps, ink, various pens and markers, other embellishments (stickers, die-cuts, etc) optional, a hole punch,  and twine.

Directions

1. Begin by creating the cover for your booklet. I chose a thin cardboard like material that was already cut to a small size. Create the title for your booklet. I decided on {25} Reasons Why I Love You because it was Will's 25th birthday. I used foam stamps for the 25 (apply paint using a paint brush and stamp onto your surface) and regular letter stamps to write the title and then used some stickers as accents. I distressed the edges by rubbing them on the ink pad.
2. Measure the size of the cover and cut pieces of card-stock into smaller pieces that will fit into your booklet. My cover measured 4.5 square inches, so I cut each page in to 4.25 inch squares. Cut as many pages as you need, and number them by stamping them with the same foam stamps you used on the cover.
3. Allow any paint to dry and then make sure all pages of your booklet align. I rounded the corners of my pages to match the cover. This is not necessary, just an extra little touch. Punch holes in each of the pages and the cover to ensure you will be able to bind your booklet together. A good way to make sure all of your hole punches line up: Begin by marking where you want the holes to go on the front cover and punch them out. Then align different pages, one or two at a time, (centered) with the top of the front cover and punch through the holes you have already made.
4. Go through and personalize each page of your booklet. Do this before binding it together! If you make a mistake you can make a new page without having to unbind everything. Get create with each page, writing and stamping with different fonts. Add pictures, stickers, different embellishments, or print out everything and adhere it to your pages. I chose to keep it pretty simple. Then bind your booklet together by feeding twine through the holes.

Here's a little peek inside my booklet!

The design/concept is simple for this little booklet, but you could make it so many different ways. Some other ideas for little personal booklets:

• An anniversary gift, using the number of years you've been together to share things you love about that person. 
• Highlights from the year (maybe one for each month), including pictures and things you did.
• A trip highlight, including your favorite stories and places visited.
• A collection of instagram photos printed out. How cute would this be?!
• A booklet featuring highlights and monthly pictures from the first year of a baby's life.

Happy memory keeping!