I am a sucker for romance. So when this tall, rich, and handsome guy came and proposed to me, it was as if I manifested him out of all the romance books I used to read. His family objected, as it does in the dramas and we got married after a two-year long courtship. He was willing to leave everything for me. It seemed straight out of a romance novel, And THEN we married! And real life happened – I realized that the happy ending shown in the movies is just the beginning. Anyways, twenty years hence we are still together and still fond of each other enough to exchange cute valentine’s day gifts (other than times I may have wanted to buy a dagger).
But this post is not about things I would give him – but for myself. From years of experience in being clueless and doing inane things in my marriage, I can vouch that all love starts with self-love.
If you do not love yourself, you will start believing all the criticisms from the outside and add to them your own incriminations, and end up making your life hell all inside your head. You will begin to complain about anything and everything around you and blame others for everything wrong in your life.
When you love yourself and forgive yourself for all the silly, horrible things you might or might not have done, cherish yourself no matter what others think about you and start pampering yourself, everything will change. If you love yourself, you will attract love from others, and even if no one does, your love will be enough.
Here are some valentines day gift ideas that you can make or do easily – for yourself.
First and foremost I will give myself a love letter. The content would have sentences like these – I promise to cherish you and enjoy the time I have with you. I forgive you for all the missteps you may have taken so far. I accept you wholeheartedly with all your flaws. I will try to do at least one (or three) loving things for you every day, even if it is just a head massage or eating your favorite snack.
I will buy myself a gift; it can be an expensive one I have wanted for a long time or just something that makes me feel happy, like a bar of nice chocolate that I love.
I cannot buy the gift for you but I can tell you how to make the gift bag to put it in.
Just fold a 14 inch by 11 inch fabric by the middle (the dimension of the fabric depends on the gift you have); sew the bottom edge and sides together.
Tie a ribbon to close. (There are other complicated ways to make the gift pouch; check out this post on making gift pouches)
Other than this simple bag, there are many other things that you can make for yourself with self-care in mind.
If you like to pamper yourself, there is nothing like a little pillow case made with satin fabric – you can rest your precious face against a soft fabric and just forget about wrinkles that you might get if you are resting your face on the rougher regular pillow cover fabric. Follow the tutorial for a pillowcase here. Or make yourself a nice soothing eye mask in satin fabric.
A cute and soft shawl to keep you warm and cozy. Follow the dimensions for the scarves and shawls here
Related posts : Make infinity scarves ; Make a neckwarmer scarf.
Applique a heart on a t-shirt. To applique a heart motif on the t-shirt cut out the heart motif from fusible interfacing.
Cut the fabric for the applique a little bigger than the heart cut out from fusible web.
Keep the fusible web on the back of the heart piece; Clip the extra edge every 1 inch or so so that it will turn easily to the back. Fold the edges to the back- press with iron so that the edges stick to the fusible web.
You can sew the edges in place with hand sewing needle and thread – with running stitches
Sew your applique with small stitches. You can also use needle point stitches, which will make your stitches invisible. Checkout this post on needleturn applique for this.
Or a poster declaring the love you have for yourself.
PS: These simple self care tips may not be applicable in 2 instances. One, if you already do more than enough for yourself and never for any one else. Second is if you are very poor. When you are poor, self care is the first thing on the ‘out’ list. But this is when you need it the most. Simple things that will boost you up till you get up and sprint to love
Related posts: Learn basics in sewing; Beginner level projects to sew.
