You waited a bit too long, right? Distractions, obligations, hectic schedules … trust me, I completely understand.
Now Valentine’s Day 2016 is well and truly upon us, and many of us are scrambling for the best last-minute gift ideas possible (while pretending we had these planned for weeks).
Fortunately, in our search for creative, clever and unique ideas, we found five brilliant gifts, nearly all of which you can create yourself.
So even if you happen to be reading this on the morning of February 14, you’ve still got great gift options. (After that, you’ll want to bookmark this post for next year.)
DIY & Homemade Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas
1. Create Your Own Video Valentine’s Day Card
You’ve got a bunch of photos of and with your valentine, but standard prints aren’t a very creative gift. A photo album is a nice step up, but why not go a bit further and turn your still images into a short, animated movie clip with a sweet soundtrack of your choosing?
Combine photos, video clips, text and music to create your own HD video with Animoto. It’s super easy to use — no video experience required — and with plans starting at $13 per month, you might want to use it for other projects (birthdays, holidays, who knows).
We love this idea from the Find Joy in the Journey blog. You can keep it simple or go all out and plan your dates in detail, depending on your time and brainstorming energy.
The basic version: Pick one day per month for the rest of the year, plan your romantic activities and itinerary, lock them into your calendar and present your list of ideas in any number of creative ways. Reservations to restaurants, gift cards, tickets to events, day trips or nights in — the possibilities are endless. You can adjust days later if needed.
Are you or your partner old enough to remember the magic of the ViewMaster?
If so, you’ll love RetroViewer, a photo viewer modeled on the red plastic classic with spinning photoreels. You can now build your own reels from your photos, customise your viewer and buy gift cards to share the joy. RetroViewer sets start at $30 USD and they ship worldwide.
While you won’t receive this set in time for Valentine’s Day now, we suspect your partner will be so jazzed they won’t mind waiting a bit longer!
4. Trump the Boring Card with Invisible Ink Love Notes
It’s 2016. Who still wants to get a mass-produced Hallmark card, with sappy sentiments that are generic and impersonal?
Your partner can decipher the messages simply by holding them close to heat (near a cozy fireplace or scented candles, perhaps?). And you can handwrite the note with any number of implements, from a paintbrush to a Q-tip.
Warning: Emptying a bottle of wine or spirits to help house these notes may affect your handwriting. Proceed with caution.
5. Make Fresh Roses from Bacon (Yes, Bacon!)
Must we even elaborate on the deliciousness of this idea?
Let’s not kid ourselves; coffee is a vital ingredient to life as a functioning human being.
Finding the perfect at home coffee maker is therefore high on my list of priorities.
As a born and bred Melbournian, this sweeping statement becomes a little more understandable. For those of you who are not aware, we here in Melbourne take our coffee very, very seriously. It is a rare shopping strip if you can walk down without wafts of freshly ground beans massaging your senses. We eat them, we drink them, we scrub our bodies with them; coffee is the lifeblood of this city.
The innovations in coffee technology and the ensuing competition for our hearts, has been fierce. It seems that every appliance brand has developed a machine that, despite the claims, are not created equal. Yes, I have indeed tested these claims for the taste, convenience and overall coffee magic. Only now do I find myself in a position of waxing lyrical over the king of coffee machines. You can keep your golden eagles; I have found the superior Swiss engineering and design of Jura.
The Good Food and Wine Show on Friday gave me the opportunity to get up close and personal with this range of machines in a coffee master class. I was expecting this class to cover things like heating cups, correct tamping procedure and frothing the perfect foam, not learning how to make the easiest and most delicious Tiramisu ever.
Checking out the Jura A9 and F9 I was simply blown away by the features and functionality. First up, I have an aversion to pod or capsule based machines due to the incredible amount of waste and environmental damage the introduction of these is causing. Jura’s superior Swiss engineering has the beans inside the machine, grinding each cup on demand and to perfection.
As an espresso drinker (hold the sugar), I have a very demanding palette, which all too often is abused by burnt, bitter coffee. The internal temperature control ensures that the water is heated to the optimum level, just below boiling point, releasing the warm natural flavours of the beans. The simple fact that I have no need to intervene in the grinding and tamping process ensures that each cup come with the perfect crème as the water is pushed through the beans with the right level of pressure.
Frothing milk is an activity fraught with problems. From over aerating to steam burns, this is my least favourite activity when making my own coffees. The fully enclosed milk system of the Jura machine means that no special skills are required, and each cup comes as perfectly prepared as the next. So no, my master class did not need to cover any of these elements in creating the perfect cup.
Ever the practical one, there were other elements of the Jura machines that had me highly impressed. A smooth, flat touch screen surface with no crevices to collect dust and no top plate cup warmer. Instead the cups are kept in an internal heated drawer on the side of the machine, keeping them at the ideal temperature, dust free and quiet!
Having owned several DIY coffee machines in the past I am no stranger to the service process. I spent quite some time probing the Jura representative about the quality of the internal seals, replacement parts and just how long one could be expected to cope without their lifeline. I was surprised to hear that not only does their service centre have a “while you wait” option, but ensures that your turn around service time is no more than two days or they will supply you with a fill in machine! Jura clearly understands the seriousness of the situation.
My master class efforts were far more fun than I was expecting. Being able to turn out the perfect and impressive Tiramisu with the addition of a Jura made espresso, gave me hope that dinner parties may not be beyond my abilities. Creating this impressive coffee art right out of the gate has me completely sold on the idea. It looks like a bought one right?
As a true coffee aficionado I can honestly say that the coffee produced by the Jura A9 and F9 (the two models I trialled), is far superior to many of those $4.50 cups I’ve bought in cafes around Australia. With the engineering, quality, service and overall results of these machines, this is an easy investment to justify in a coffee obsessed city.
It is with absolute joy that I can share with you so very exciting news. I’m a covergirl for Glory Days magazine! Based out of New Zealand, Glory Days is a wonderful publication covering all manner of lifestyle and beauty features for vintage lovers of all eras.
I was first turned onto them around twelve months ago and was seriously impressed. It seems that there are quite a few vintage and pin up mags popping up these days, but few have the quality and depth of articles as Glory Days. This isn’t just a publication with a bunch of pretty pictures, but contains all sorts of inspiring lifestyle ideas and accessible resources.
I so enjoyed being interviewed by Natasha. Our mutual passion for vintage and business came together in a long conversation I didn’t want to end. We spoke for hours about life as business owners and vintage lovers, which leads me to my next exciting announcement; I’ve now been invited to become a regular columnist for Glory Days and head across to New Zealand on tour!! Boy did we kick off winter with a bang!
Images via Glory Days Facebook page because I’m a bit excited!
It never ceases to amaze me how this blog has changed my life and my ability to take ideas and morph them into something new. This year, my Year of Living Bravely, is only six months in and already the seismic shifts in my direction have been astounding.
Last month I emailed you to find out more about what you love, what you want to learn and what’s holding you back from achieving your dreams. Your heartfelt responses have been overwhelming, so much so that I’m still in response mode. I knew I wanted to take Vintage Current in a slightly different direction, one that was more focused on you and less on my day to day. The challenges you face, be they style, business or personal, are not at all dissimilar from those I’ve had to master. So I want you to get more. More than just outfit inspiration, more than just a lovely read, I want to give you the keys to the kingdom. All we need is your permission to deliver them to your inbox.
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You can order this issue here and check out the Glory Days Facebook Page for daily updates.
Landing back in Melbourne I was deceived by the balmy late Autumn night. I gathered my things into the cab at the airport proclaiming, “Oh this isn’t so bad, perhaps I just don’t feel it anymore now that I have experienced a little of the US cold.” Foolish woman. By 10.30pm I was rugged up like a marshmallow, thick scarf over my cable knit cowl sweater, rubbing my legs for warmth. Immediately I began making a mental list of all the things that need to happen this week, and this morning I embark on my quest.
Recover all my Winter clothes from storage and check them for suitability
Over the last twelve months I have attempted to streamline just how much I keep in the wardrobe; not enough though to keep it all in the wardrobe at any one time. Things still have to be stored seasonally. When I pack away my winter clothes, I try to ensure that everything is extra clean and use lavender to keep any bugs at bay. Now is the time to pull it all back out, check and see what I’ll still wear as opposed to what I want to donate or sell. Then I give them the once over for condition, ironing where needed and using my favourite fabric softener to freshly launder pieces, filling the house with the scent of warm washing.
Check the heating situation
If you haven’t already turned your heating on for the season, it’s important to check that not only is it in good working order, but that it is dust free. Vacuum out the vents and save yourself the scratchy eyes. Make sure that your efforts aren’t wasted and that you are keeping that heat inside where it belongs. Some door seals from the hardware store or even a few fancy door ‘snakes’ to stop the draught make a big difference. I plan on heading down to Savers today and seeing if I can score some heavy curtains to layer over the windows in the area that doesn’t hold the heat so well.
Freshen up your bed room
The 1st June is the beginning of End of Financial Year sales here and the perfect time to snag a bedding bargain. Yesterday we popped out to grab some luxuriously soft memory foam pillows (2 for $25 – nice!), a new doona and a rich slate grey cover to echo the winter tones. A thick shag floor rug and a winter spice room fragrance will add the more sensory elements.
Winter nights are the best for staying in, not having to over socialise and just hibernate for a bit. The temptation though, is to spend far too much time watching TV. Instead I’ll be sitting down to plan out personal projects I want to work on of an evening. I’ve almost entirely given up on the idea that I may one day be a knitter (just no patience), but instead I’d like to get back to drawing, more reading and actually doing some of those digital projects that are always on the ‘to do’ list. Things like scanning all my important documents, making photo books with highlights of my trips over the years, reorganising my digital filing system, and most importantly, digitising all the photos from when I was growing up to make sure they are never lost. I will of course, by having movie nights to indulge in the classics, but I’d hate to loose my evenings to whatever rubbish just happens to be on because I didn’t have anything planned.
Right now however, I think this miserable weather calls for some home delivery Thai food and a lovely bottle of wine.
Samantha has wicked style, taking us from the flirty and feminine 1960’s looks right through to Hippie chick. She always had a wonderful way of changing up her hair and outfits to channel different vibes, yet always remained true to her character at heart. If you want some great ideas for how to dress your little ladies in groovy retro threads, check out the littlest witch Tabitha, when she comes along in later seasons.
Dynasty
I barely need to say anything about this one as a picture tells a thousand words. Joan Collins was my idol in the 1980’s and I wanted so desperately to have a wardrobe like hers in this incredible show. Drama, intrigue and furs flying. If you love a good shoulder pad, dramatic entrance and sizzling one liners, remind yourself just how good this is with a rewatch.
Petticoat Junction
Boy I loved this show; right up there with Gilligan’s Island and with far better fashion potential than The Beverly Hillbillies. These adorable sisters could work a pair of Daisy Dukes like nobody’s business and always had such amazing hair even though it seemed that they bathed in a water tower!
That Girl
This is one of those shows that if you missed the first time around, or in reruns, you absolutely must seek out! Of all the fashion inspiration on vintage T.V, Marlo Thomas in That Girl has it nailed. Accessories galore, the ability to rock an ensemble for any mood, and all as an independent woman in the big city. a style and lifestyle hero.
To find any of these T.V series on DVD check out Amazon, where they have an incredible range of awesome vintage T.V. Once you start looking, its addictive!
