an easy valentine gift your hubby will really appreciate

Do you love your husband? Do you want to make him a simple gift that he will absolutely LOVE? Do you not have a ton of time or inspiration for a crafty project? Then I'm you're girl.

This little book is designed to hold the little things you "notice" that your husband does for you or your family. I so often overlook or under appreciate all the many little things he does every day for us. A few years ago I took the time to write down a few things I noticed, wrap them up with some pictures in a little mini book, and he was blown away that valentine's day.

This year I decided it was time to make another "I notice" book. Then teach the moms at MOPS (since I am in charge of crafts) how to make their own. And then share it with you all here too.

First off, let me say that I was totally inspired by the gals at my very favorite scrapbook store ever: Treasury of Memories. Sadly, they have recently closed their storefront. However, they are still offering awesome papercrafting kits on their website. Seriously, do yourself a favor and order their kit for this project. It is so reasonably priced especially if you don't have a ton of time; they'll have done all the work for you.

But if you're like me and wanted to do something a little smaller, and a little more replicatable (you know, cuz I have to make like 30 kits for my MOPS mamas) then read further.

Step 1: Gather your supplies

• red felt
• Stiffen Quick
• 4x6 lined notecards (3x5 work okay too)
• pens
• needle & thread
• some valenine-y paper 
• felt hearts (I used some stickers from K&Co that I purchased at Target in the scrapbook aisle, but I can't find a link; feel free to cut your own from regular ole felt)
• glue
• 3/4 inch binder ring
• hole punch
• scissors (whoops not  pictured)
• optional: corner-rounder (whoops, forgot that one in my supplies gathering too)

Step 2: stiffen your felt
The felt sheet I purchased at Jo-Ann's was full of awesome glitter, but wasn't quite as stiff as I wanted for a cover, so I followed the directions on a bottle of Stiffen Quick to stiffen it up a bit.

Step 3: measure and cut your felt
To make it easy, I did this project at 2" by 3", which is the size of a standard wallet photo. Cut a front and a back cover.

Step 4: decorate your front cover
I wrote a simple "i notice" on white paper, cut it out, glued it over the heart, and added a couple cross-stitches for fun. Feel free to decorate as you like.

Step 5: cut notecards
Trim a handful of notecards down to 2" by 3". Note: if you want to use the lines to guide your writing, be sure they are trimmed accordingly!

Step 6: embellish your pages
Use your felt hearts and valentine-y papers to add a little fun to your notecards. 

Step 7: print some photos
 Pick a handful (I used 8) photos of your man. Of you and your man. Of your man with your kiddos. Whatever kinds of pictures you want to include. (Note: You can do this project without pictures if this step intimidates you!) You can order prints from your favorite photo lab (I like scrapbookpictures.com or costco the best) or print them out on your home computer like I did. Just crop your photos down to 2"x3", get as many as you can on a 8.5"x11" blank canvas, and print on photo paper. I used my Photoshop Elements 5 to do this pretty quickly. (At the bottom of this post is a little tutorial for how to easily crop your photos to the size you want in Photoshop.)

Step 8: decide which order you want your book in and glue!
Glue notecards and photos back-to-back. I love me a good glue stick for this task!

Step 9: punch holes and thread on binder ring
The crop-a-dile is amazing for its ability to punch holes so well. It easily punched through the felt and several notecards at once. If you don't have this handy tool, come borrow mine or use a standard hole punch with a little extra muscle.

Step 10: (optional) round your corners
I like the way it looks a little more finished with rounded corners. My corner rounder doesn't cut through the felt, so I had to round those ones with scissors.

Step 11: add your "i notice" moments, wrap, and give away 
For example: I notice how you always unload the groceries from the cart at the store, so I can look through the trashy magazines at checkout.
For example: I notice how you always carry the heavy stuff.
For example: I notice how you don't keep diaper-changing score even though I do. (You know, I already changed one today so now it's your turn.)

Yup, that's my awesome husband. I'd love to hear some of your own "I notice" moments in the comments. 

And link me up if you make one of these for your sweetie.

And honestly, if you can't get around to making a little book like this, just list some "I notice" moments in a card. He'll be blown away by your thoughtfulness, I promise.

Comments

[chelsey]

i think i will...what a sweet idea.

[Jen]

Just found you through LMM. Cute idea! Thanks and Happy Tuesday!

[LeAnna]

Came here from LMM, and love this!

[Andrea]

That's a great project! LMM sent me!

[Dandy]

That is sooo adorable! LMM sent me over here and I just love this!

[Jenn]

Clever idea... though I think my little girl would love it more than the hubby! ;) over from LMM!
;) Jenn

[Julie]

Deanna,

What a great idea - the gift of appreciation.

So sorry to hear about Dani's arm! Hope Darin isn't beating himself up over it... accidents happen.

Julie

[Jen]

So, I'm not going to make your crafty little project because I'm not that organized. But, I do like the idea. Things I notice about Joe:
I notice that you let me nap whenever I want.
I notice that you always thank me for growing our baby...even when I'm crabby.
I notice that you jump up to check on our boy in the middle of the night so I don't have to.
I notice that you don't ask me "What's for dinner?" any more because you know it stresses me out...and you offer to bring home pizza.

Thanks, Deanna, for the Valentine reminder to appreciate all the little wonderful things our husbands do.

[Lemonade Makin' Mama]

Hey girl!! My peeps are coming... my peeps are coming...

That seems like a song I should be singing! LOL

Sash

[Jewls]

This is a great idea!! Poppin' in from LMM! Thanks for the inspiration, I've been in a funk about what to do for hubs!

[Stephaine @ Geezees]

Cute idea!

[Teresa]

LMM sent me too!! haha, great idea!

[Julie]

LMM sent me. :) This is such a cute idea. I can't wait to give it a try. I'll have to check out the PSE tutorial too. Thanks for including it! I got it for Christmas and I have yet to figure it out. :)

[Katie]

Do you think you could use the felt that is already stiffened? That comes in large sheets at the craft stores. Perhaps that would save a step.

[Erin]

I'm going to make this for my hubby for Valentine's Day but rather than "I notice" I want to do "I adore" for example:

(cover) I adore....

how you help me through it all

how you bring me flowers on the 18th

how much you love our family

how to persevere and never give up

how hard you work to provide for our family (even when you’re tired)

how you help around the house without being asked

how you work hard to turn this house into our home

how much you adore Madelynn

how you never leave my side

how passionate you are (yes, even when it’s passionate about hockey)

how you sometimes call me during the day to see how I am

how your friendships last forever

how you always can make me laugh - always!

how you are just you

how you make life an adventure

how much you love me

I picked out my pictures, I'm so pumped to go to the craft store in the morning and get cracking!

[Sumi]

Love this idea.I am gonna try this out for sure.

[Lisa]

Love this! Thank you for the list of ideas. I think I'm going to do something similar using those "I love you for this reason" ideas for my hubby : )

[Sheri@childmade]

This is fabulous! I'll have to be sure and do it on a day I'm not mad at him. Otherwise, it might not come out quite right! LOL! Thanks for sharing! I've posted a link.

[julia]

I so love this idea! But, I think I might save this for father's day :)

[Mhaya]

thnx! you gave me a bight idea! God bless you and you family!

[Mhaya]

thnx!you gave me a bright idea! God bless you and your family!

[Auto Service Renton]

Loved these! I think my friend's are going to get busy doing this stuff for their hubbys. Thanks a lot :)