Crafting a Monthly Love Letter
December 19, 2013 9:46 PM   Subscribe

Christmas gift help: what's a fun way to visually design a different love letter for each month of the year?

For Christmas, my girlfriend has asked for "words" - since most of our communication is via text and email, she only gets little snippets from me. My idea is to hand-write one love letter for each month of 2014 and send it to her on the first of that month. I'm looking for fun ways to make the letters different from month to month, rather than using the same stationery / envelope for each letter. Some thoughts:

1) Different paper for each month, maybe with a seasonal color scheme. I couldn't find much online, I imagine it's hard to get 12 distinct colors of stationery of the same class, and I'd prefer not to buy a ton of paper I'm not going to use.

2) A different sticker or stamp or other "mark" I can put on the envelope or stationery. Again, I hard a hard time finding something like this.

3) A photo of us enclosed with each letter - I think I'm going to do this, any way to jazz it up?

Any ideas where I can find #1 or #2? Or other ways of "theming" the letters to create some variety? I'm sure she'd be happy with just the words (that's the point after all) but I'm hoping to put a creative spin on this idea and coming up a little blank.
posted by bbuda to Shopping (7 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Scrapbooking stores and websites will likely have many of the things you're looking for.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 10:14 PM on December 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


You can also get lots of cheap cute stuff at a $2 shop or Daiso, but at a srapbook store you can get all the stuff you need in 4x6" card sets. Look for the Project Life stuff if you don't want frilly. Seriously, half an hour in a scrapbook store and you will have everything you need for under $50.
posted by viggorlijah at 11:48 PM on December 19, 2013


With the start of every season, try a poem. Even if it's a crap poem.

Each month could have a special memory you shared that month. Or a clue to something special you've got planned that month.

You could cut it out into shapes or a puzzle; when she puts the 12 puzzle pieces together it says something or builds into a shape of something (a flower? or if you're going to propose, a ring?)
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:18 AM on December 20, 2013


Yeah, I like the idea of a unifying theme. Maybe the letter could be written on some nice paper but the envelope is a piece of art. Or maybe it's not in a typical envelope but a little pouch or tube.

Here are some ideas that might help spark something for you:

Sandwich Bag Art
Lunch Bag Art
Thing a Day
Designspiration
Mail Art

Also, for the mark, you could do a wax seal.
posted by dawkins_7 at 6:52 AM on December 20, 2013


Just about every big box store and craft store these days has a dedicated scrapbooking aisle or aisles. Even Target has a scrapbooking aisle. (I'm just saying--there's no need to seek out a dedicated scrapbooking store to find various accoutrements.)

Unless your girlfriend is sensitive to smells or has allergies, I think it might be fun to make the letters smell like something seasonal. Like nutmeg and cloves in November, peppermint in December, maybe chocolate in February, something fruity in June, sparklers in July, the beach in August, etc. (How would you accomplish this? Not sure, possibly magic. Or maybe some essential oils. It would be pretty fun, though.)
posted by phunniemee at 7:26 AM on December 20, 2013


A love letter comes from you, in your words. What's important is that it comes from your heart to your girlfriend's heart. The best vehicle I've found is greeting cards with lovely pictures on the front and no message inside. You take something from the picture and work off of it.

I got one with a picture of a great snowy owl looking straight into the camera and sent it to my father on his birthday with the message "Happy birthday to a wise old bird." He kept it for the rest of his life.

For our anniversary, I got a picture of a field of daffodils with a big rose in the center and gave it to my wife with the message "You're one in a million." I could also have said "You're my red, red rose." You can almost always think of something.

Even if you can't find a hook, the card will make her feel good.
posted by KRS at 11:35 AM on December 20, 2013


Stationary-wise, check out Paper Source. They have single sheets and envelopes in a rainbow or colors. They also have stamps/seals/stickers and other embellishment do-dads.
posted by tealcake at 2:15 AM on December 21, 2013


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