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! 🙂
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!! 🙂
We love your comments
You left out the most important part. Where did you get the magazine printed and bound?
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.
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 ??
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.
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!:)
What site did you use to make the magazine cover? Any website I tried would not allow you to edit it enough. Some you could only put a picture, others only edit captions. I want to do a whole magazine like you did… if you could let me know what program you used…
Hi Jess! I used photoshop & created mine from scratch. I really liked the site I talked about that let you upload the photo.. if I didn’t have Photoshop, I would have used that one. 🙂 Good Luck! XOXO
great idea!!! how did you get the papers to stick together? did u use photoshop for all the pages or just the cover?
Hey Darla! I just used scrapbooking adhesive. I just photoshopped the cover & created all of the other pages in Word. 🙂
I want to do this for my husband for our 1st anniversay since it is traditionally “paper”. However I can not find a magazine layout template to use. I have Microsoft Word Starter.
Hey Tina! I used Photoshop to create mine. You can always use the free layout. I have the link in my post to the website that lets you upload a photo. I wish I knew what other programs out there you could use. The best of luck! He will LOVE it! xoxo
Hi!! Thank you SO much for this idea! My husband just got a new job and I am making it as a congrats gift! He will be traveling a lot and so this will be nice for him to take a long as a memento! He will be traveling for weeks at a time! I do have a quick question though. I want to change some of the words on the cover and make other changes, how did you do it? What program did you use to photoshop it?!
Thank you!
Priya
Hi Priya!
So glad you like this! I used Photoshop Adobe Elements – it’s a cheaper version of the full-on Photoshop. 🙂 BUT – you could pretty much do what I did in any program! 🙂
XOXO, Tara
Oh my goodness I have been wanting to do this for my boyfriend since our 1 year anniversary, but I think I have decided on a better idea. I will keep everything and anything that we both remember and make it as a wedding gift, whenever we get married. Just a few more years to go =) Thanks for posting this idea!
Tara I can not thank you enough. My wonderful amazing husband turned 50 on friday and I used this idea to create a unique love-filled gift for him from his family and friends. He told me he was left feeling like George Bailey in the last scene of It’s a Wonderful Life. This was the BEST gift I could have given him. I am so grateful to you for the inspiration!
Used the Diva subway art idea for the cover and had it prited and bound anyway it was fabulous the way it made him feel well…just know that you helped me make him exceedingly happy!
God Bless You and the Diva sisters for all you do for our marriages!
You are SOOOOO welcome, Barbara! Your sweet comment touched me so much…..I HAD to send ya an email! 🙂 Thank you again for your kind words! So glad your husband liked his fun surprise. XOXO, Tara
I LOVE this idea, in fact I’m in the middle of creating one of my very own. Thanks for the cute idea!
YAY! I am so glad you are doing one! This is AWESOME that this idea is such a hit! My husband absolutely LOVED it! Heck….who WOULDN’T want a magazine all about them! haha Have fun making it! 🙂
First, thank you so much for this idea! I have been putting together the pages for my husbands magazine since his birthday is next month! And it has been so much fun doing it! I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of paper you printed all the pages out on and how you got them to stick so well.. especially the cover?
If you could tell me that would be so helpful!! thank you!!
I’m making one for my husband’s birthday next week. What paper did you end up using and how did it turn out? 🙂 Thanks!
It turned out AMAZING! He loved it! I used regular paper for the inside & a “magazine-style” paper for the cover which I printed at Kinko’s. Good luck! 🙂
Thanks for this amazing idea! I love it, and will probably do something like it for my husband's birthday!
I would love to do this for my husband's 40th birthday! I was wondering what adhesive you used to glue the pages in the magazine?
That's amazing! My husband is currently deployed in Afghanistan so I know something like this would be a big hit for him…something he can read over and over again to remind him of all the people that he knows and loves back at home. Thanks for the idea!
What a cute idea! Love it.
P.S. I wonder how many Joe Hansens are in the world. I know one, too!
What a wonderful, original, touching gift! Thanks for sharing!
FABULOUS Idea Tara!!
Thanks for sharing!! My Hubster's Bday isn't until July… that might just be enough time to pull this one off. 😉
Keep the FUN ideas coming Divas!