Whether you’re stressed about scoring the perfect dinner reservation or frantically searching for a gift for your special someone, look no further! Whatever the circumstances, this Valentine’s Day show your guy or gal you love them without breaking the bank. Make one of these affordable and meaningful Do-It-Yourself crafts.

Margaret Lenker/Neon Tommy

After buying the same presents year after year, spice things up with a personalized A-B-C book. The idea is as simple as it sounds, and although this gift is time consuming, its next-to-nothing price makes up for the time well spent. Just make sure you have enough memories and photos to fill 26 pages.

Materials:

• Scissors/Paper cutter
• Glue
• Cardboard
• Hole puncher
• 30 pieces of construction paper
• String
• Markers
• Ruler
• Wrapping paper

Hole-punching (Jake Simon)

Create a list for the topic of each page, and find a photo or two for each one. Try to use both landscape and portrait photos.

A- A walk in on the beach (Photo of us with the sunset in the background)

B- Buckingham Palace (Small photo of him sleeping on the plane, and one photo of us on our tour)

C- College together (One photo from move-in day and one from game day)

D- Dog park (Pictures of us with Scruffy and Fido from last summer)

Step 2:

Cut the paper 7 inches by 9 inches. Line the paper up at the bottom of the hole puncher, creating two holes in each piece.

Title (Margaret Lenker)

To keep some uniformity, write the letter of each page in a large font followed by the rest of the word in a smaller font. 

Step 4: 

Glue a photo on each corresponding page. Mix up where you put the photo. Repetition is no fun!

Step 5:

Come up with some cute or witty little blurb for each page, and write it around the photo.

Wrapping the cover (Jake Simon)

Cut the cover into a 7 1/4 inches by 10 inches. Hole punch the cardboard or mark where you want the holes and use scissors to create holes (whichever is easier). Cover each piece of cardboard with wrapping paper (wrap it just like a present!). Cut four pieces of construction paper for the front and back of each cover, and decorate to your heart’s desires.

Step 7 (putting it all together):

Once you’ve finished the front cover, back cover and pages, assemble them in order. Cut two pieces of string, and thread one piece through one hole. Tie the strings, and then you’re done! (Note, this book can be made for anything from anniversaries to holidays! I made it for a six-month anniversary).

Kisses Envelope

This project is super cheap and easy…what more could you ask for?

Front of envelope (Margaret Lenker)

• 1 letter size envelope
• Red Marker
• Lipstick
• Hershey’s Kisses

Step 1:

Write “Kisses for _____” on the front of the envelope, and decorate with hearts.

Back of envelope (Jake Simon)

Step 2:

Put on lipstick and kiss the back of the envelope 5-10 times.

Putting the Hershey's in (Margaret Lenker)

Step 3:

Fill the envelope with Hershey’s kisses and then seal the envelope.