A Magazine for Your Man

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TODAY I am going to share a FABULOUS present I came up with this past July to celebrate another birthday for my man.  I wanted to make sure it was an extremely memorable one….so, of course, I had to come up with an amazing present, right!?!

I don’t know about you…but for me – presents that come from the heart mean SOOO much more than anything you can buy from a store!  I would think up a great idea…and then decide it just wasn’t heartfelt enough.  FINALLY, a little inspiration came my way!  I found a fun website that lets you create your own magazine cover!!  I really liked the idea but instead of just creating a cover, I decided to put together an ENTIRE magazine dedicated to my man!!  Just thinking about it made me smile!  🙂

Tara - Magazine for my man - pinterest pic

I went right to work!  My first step was to photoshop the front cover of Jamie’s magazine using a picture of both of us.  Wa-LAH…here is my final project….
I then sent an email out to ALL of our friends and family.  I let everyone know what I was up to for Jamie’s upcoming birthday and asked if they could please send me back a memorable story about Jamie along with a picture of the two of them.  We recently moved to another state far away from all family and most of our friends, which is another reason I figured this would be a much appreciated present.  Who wouldn’t want to read special stories about themselves written by loved ones….especially when we don’t get to see a lot of those people as often as we would like?!?  🙂

Hint: Email friends and family members WAY before your spouse’s birthday!  You don’t want “crunch time” to creep up on you and find that you are still waiting on some people to send their stories in!!
 
When the stories & pictures started rolling in…..I began putting them into a “magazine-style” layout in Microsoft Word. (BTW – prepare to LAUGH at some of those photos!  I sure did!!)   Here are some examples of a few layouts below:
You know how writers usually have a little somethin’-somethin’ about themselves after you read an article??  Well, I thought that would be a fun touch so I included a mini-description of each person after their story.  Here’s an example of what MINE said:
Yep, when you create the present…you have TOTAL control over what it says about you!  {lol}  Here are a few other “blurbs” about some of the other “authors”:

(And yes….”Heiner” is spelled correctly!  lol)
I took all of my page layouts and my photoshopped front cover to Kinko’s to have them print it.  I LOVED the semi-glossy look that the magazine cover had!  It looked so real!!
Back at home, I found an old magazine and I began adhering my OWN pages on top of the pre-existing pages.  I left a few of the original articles in (they had to do with love) as well as some of the more interesting advertisements.  I tore out all of the pages that were left over.
OH!!  Don’t forget to type up a “Letter From The Editor”…which is YOU!!  {WINK} In that letter, you basically explain that this magazine is a special feature all about your loved one.  You can click on my picture below to enlarge it to see what I wrote.
(Isn’t that a crazy advertisement on the right!! So fun!)

Now, presentation is pretty important!!  I thought it would be funny to have a “mannequin” dressed up in his clothes…holding the magazine.  Just use pillows and crinkled up newspaper to stuff the clothes.  (A twist on this would be to buy all brand-newclothes to put on the mannequin…as part of his present.)  I enlisted the help of Jamie’s talented l’il brother who drew a face on a balloon.  Here was our finished product:
Jamie was a little leery of his “twin”!!  🙂  We were all laughing pretty hard!  I almost included a picture of Jamie’s face when he first saw the figure sitting there in his clothing…he had SUCH a funny expression on his face!  I decided to spare him the embarrassment!  🙂

Although he wasn’t so sure about the mannequin…

…he LOVED the magazine!!
Here is a pic of the two of them together…{lol}  His sweet Grandma called while we were opening presents…in case you were wondering who was important enough to take precedence over my amazing gift!  🙂
You wanted to see a few up-close pictures of the INSIDE of the magazine??
OK, here ya go:
Now, there was a SPECIAL sUrPrIsE for Jamie on the back cover.  My funny (and crazy) uncle sent in a picture layout that made ALL of us blush and laugh our heads off at the same time!  I am soooooo not gonna tell you what it was…but you can see Jamie’s reaction below:
I can honestly say the present was a HIT!  Jamie told me multiple times afterwards how much it meant to him!  (Oh yeah, and did I mention that my husband is NOT a reader?!?)
Now, if this is something you would love to do for your OWN hot man….but just don’t have the photoshopping skills…no worries!  You can go to MagMyPic…and they will do the work FOR you!  (I was actually inspired by one of their designs when doing my own!)
Here is one I did using a layout from MagMyPic:
I just HAD to do one for our adorable yorkie, Jaxston!!  He had JUST snatched Jamie’s credit card which had fallen on the ground….OOPS!!
….and THAT is how you create a Magazine For Yer Man!!  🙂

Tara

I am an outgoing and fun-lovin’ gal who was lucky enough to marry the man of my dreams! You could probably say I am an “extreme extrovert” as I LOVE to talk and be around people! I love ANYTHING creative and am not a fan of the “norm.” My favorite things in life are my family… especially my HOT husband, my friends, and my faith! After a long infertility journey, we brought two miracle babies into this world via IVF and then a SURPRISE bundle of joy recently decided to join us. I have a passion for life and I am having a BLAST running this website with some of my closest friends. Life just keeps getting better and better!

Learn more about Tara
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Recent Comments

    1. She printed the pages at a print shop and then found an old magazine and adhered her own pages on top of the pre-existing pages. But you totally could get it printed and bound at a print shop.

  1. I want to do this and Ive been researching the nest way to do it, what did you use to adhere your pages to the magazine pages. Glue?? double sided tape ??

    1. YES! I used double-sided tape – but you can purchase the scrapbooking tape to make it a CINCH! Michael’s should carry that type. Good luck! This is one of my most favorite presents I’ve ever given my husband.

  2. You’re the best! I can’t thank you enough for this idea! I hope you’ll make more fabulous gifts ot whtaever and share it to us! It’s not only your husband who’s lucky, we’re (readers) lucky because you’re generous enough to share this to us! God bless you more!:)

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