Chesney Mosher, Sophomore
Do you have a valentine this year? We all know shopping for Valentine's Day gifts can get expensive and difficult to find something sentimental. Some of the best gifts are ones made with passion and care. This is why DIY Valentine's gifts can be some of the best gifts to give. You can make baked gifts or hand-crafted gifts. You can even make gifts from supplies around your house at no cost.
One thoughtful gift for music lovers is a glass album plaque. The materials you need for this are: 4x6 picture frame, white vinyl, paint, or an oil-based pen (either will work), Mod Podge, a paintbrush, and a printed photo. Your first step is to take the glass piece out of the picture frame, and discard the frame. Next, you're going to want to print a picture of you and your partner and pick out a meaningful song. Mod Podge the picture onto the glass so that the picture side is down. Make sure that it is centered but at the top of the glass. When you turn over the glass you should be able to see the picture through it. Now, you're going to want to write the song name and play button. To do this you're going to take your oil marker (Vinyl or Paint) and draw a similar setup of what your music looks like when you're playing it on your phone. You can either hand draw it, make a stencil, or cut it out with your vinyl. The order of the setup should be the song name first, beneath that should be the artist name, then the minute line, and finally the play button and extra buttons. The last thing you'll want to add is the Spotify scanner which will be right under the play button. In order to get the scanner code, you have to go to Spotify and look up the song you picked for the glass. After you click on the song you want to click on the 3 dots button. From there you'll want to draw, stencil, or vinyl it on.
Another great idea for a DIY Valentine's Day gift is a food basket. This gift can be personalized easily. You can make a fruit, cheese, meat, candy, vegetable, junk food, or their favorite foods basket. This can be as easy as going to the store and picking out different foods, or getting supplies to make it all. A great example is a chocolate fruit basket. The supplies you'll need for this are a basket, a clear plastic bag or wrap, tissue paper, parchment paper, foam block, wooden sticks, fruit, and chocolates. You want to start by lining your basket in tissue paper so that the bottom of the basket is covered. Then you want to put the foam block in the middle. You will use this foam block to stick your fruit in. Now you want to start preparing your fruit. You are going to want to cut them all up, if they are not already, and make sure that they are in bite-size pieces. Now it's time to melt the chocolate in a pot or microwave and dip your fruit into it. You can stick the wooden sticks into the fruit to make it easier to dip into the chocolate. You're going to place the fruit after they are dipped onto the parchment paper and let them cool before you move them. After about 20 minutes of letting them cool you're going to start sticking them into the foam. Make sure there is an assorted abundance so that it looks pretty. Once you run out of space, you can add any extra pieces around the foam. Toss a couple of extra chocolate pieces that were not melted in the basket to add some diversity, and wrap the plastic bag or scrap around the basket and tie it at the top.
The final DIY gift is a photo in a bottle. The supplies you'll need are a clear bottle with a cork lid, a piece of string, tape, a needle, and a picture. You want to start this easy project by threading the string through the needle and poking that through the cork lid. You want to poke it all the way through but only enough so that you still have a string hanging from the bottom. Next, you want to take your picture and cut it so that it will fit in the bottle. Now tape the picture to the end of the piece of yarn and put the cork lid back on the jar. And now you should have your picture floating in the jar which means it's done and ready to be gifted.
No matter what you make for your partner this Valentine's Day, as long as you put passion into it, they will love it. DIY gifts can take time to make which lets your partner know how dedicated you are to making this a gift that means something to them and shows how dedicated you are.
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