Valentines Day – Love in India

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 7 – The Tajmahal of My Love

Here’s #7 – the final one in Love in India special series of DIY Valentine’s Day Cards, which are exquisite, original and all take less than 10 minutes to make. I call today’s card “The Tajmahal of My Love.” You’ll find out why.

Things you’ll need:

1. Heart-shaped post-its of two different colours. (alternatively, ordinary post-its of two different colours)

2. Scissors.

3. A pencil.

4. Glue

5. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 7 step 1: Take 2 sets of 3 heart-shaped post-its each (of two different colours). Or make heart-shaped post-its from ordinary post-its as shown in Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 2.

Valentine’s Day card 7 step 2: Take one of the sets and draw the tail of a smaller heart (inside the boundaries of the heart-shaped paper). It’s not necessary to draw the entire heart. Now cut along the line so that each of the 3 post-its in this set have a slit in the shape of the tail of a heart.

Valentine’s Day card 7 step 3: Fit one post-it from the other set into each of the slits (don’t attach with glue). Then mark out two points on the joint spine, equidistant from the two ends. Then draw two lines parallel to the two shoulders, through this point. Repeat this for each of the three pairs.

Valentine’s Day card 7 step 4: Write your favourite love quote on each heart. They should remain below the lines you’ve drawn. In the hearts with the slits, they should also remain within the (imaginary) smaller heart whose tail lies along the slit. Like this:

Valentines Day Card 7 step 5: Make eight strips of coloured paper (you can cut these out from other similar post-its). These would serve as the pillars of my Tajmahal.

Valentines Day Card 7 step 6: Make little folds on both the ends of each strip and put glue on them.

Valentines Day Card 7 step 7: Now get to work building your Tajmahal, attaching the floors (the heart-shaped panels) with your pillars. Each heart will have two pillars attached to it, and only in the portion above the shoulder-lines you drew on each of them. This will ensure that the pillar don’t interfere with the quotes. Make sure all the quote-ed sides face the same side in both the sets.

Valentines Day Card 7 step 8: Let me see how dextrous you are with your fingers as you now fit the un-slit hearts into the slit-ed ones. J This is how it will look from the top when your Tajmahal is done. Note how there’s no hint of the quotes when you look at your Tajmahal from the top. More about that later.

Top View:

Bottom View:

Valentines Day Card 7 step 9: Present your sweetheart with your Tajmahal and tell them, “Go on. Blow up the palace of my love.” All your feelings will be tumbling out in the form of your quotes when they blow it up.

Like that? No? Let me know in any case by leaving a comment. :)

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 6 – My Heart Beats for You

Here’s #6 – the last but one DIY Card in Love in India special series of hand-made Valentine’s Day Cards, which is always the best gift you could ever give your sweetheart.
Like all of my DIY projects, this one shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes of your time.
“My Heart Beats for You”– that’s what your sweetheart will say when they receive this very special gift from you.

Things you’ll need:

1. Heart-shaped post-its of two different colours. (alternatively, ordinary post-its of two different colours)

2. Scissors.

3. A pencil.

4. Glue

5. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 6 step 1: Take four heart-shaped post-its ( I leave the colour selection to you – they can be of same or different colours, or a combination of sets of two…go nuts ;)). You can also mheart-shaped post-its from ordinary post-its as shown in Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 2.

Valentine’s Day card 6 step 2: Fill them up with your favourite love quotes.

Valentine’s Day card 6 step 3: Make 6 strips of coloured paper from post-its. These will serve as the muscles and arteries which hold your heart together. ;)

Valentine’s Day card 6 step 4: Make little folds on both the ends of each strip and put glue on them.

Valentines Day Card 6 step 5: Now string your heart together, attaching the valves (which are nothing but your love, I mean the heart-shaped post-its with your quotes on them) with the arteries (the strips). You’ll first choose a base heart, and then stick the six strips (here onwards called pillars) in such a way that you can attach three other hearts to it – one on each side – to eventually create a 3D heart.
So here are two pillars stuck on to the two rounded peaks near the head of the base heart. In addition there are two pairs of parallel pillars on each of the sides of the base heart.

Here’s what it looks like:

Valentines Day Card 6 step 6: And then … yes you’ve guessed it right – put glue on the fronts of each of the pillars and stick on a heart on each pair. Like this:

Here’s your final beating heart.

Valentines Day Card 6 step 7: You must be wondering why I have left out the folded ends of the pillar strips. They’re there, so that if you want, you can put glue on them and stick your beating heart on to a greeting card as a decoration. Like this:

Hey! Don’t judge me by the artistic expressions manifested by the greeting card. It’s just a sample. ;)

My Valentine’s Day 3: “I Give You Time Till Valentine’s Day Midnight to Come Back”, Anwesha’s Open Letter

Oh Yes. Valentine’s Day.

I’ll never forget our first.

Here I was at home, getting my morning fix of local news, when this huge bouquet arrived. You should thank your stars that it was me and not my mom who opened the door.

There was no note, no name. I have to admit I felt secretly happy, even though I was already in a relationship with you at the time.

But that was not all – a CD collection of my favourite singer, along with a note arrived around mid-day. It was an invitation to a candle lit dinner, complete with directions.

In the hierarchy of forbidden pleasures, few can match that of a woman in a committed relationship receiving non-boyfriend non-husband attention. I decided to go ahead. ;)

If there’s anything called a trauma of exhilaration, I got a taste of it that day.

I reached the restaurant and there you were! Wearing the shirt I gave you last birthday and my favourite smile, it was my prince, who’d planned an elaborate Valentine’s Day for his princess – complete with all the surprises a girl could ask for and then some!

…

It’s real that we’re not together anymore, is it? I don’t even know what went wrong. I have tried my best. I know I’m always there and I’ll keep every promise I made you, even if we never see each other again. Whatever you do, please – please be happy.

Maybe…just… remember me sometimes. Maybe when you’re asleep, sometimes dream of what could’ve been, if we’d tried.

I know I can handle the challenges you were afraid of. And if you know me or my love at all, you know that too.

You remember those pretty verses I used to write for you which always made you laugh? Here’s one I wrote last night.

Dono ankhon mein ashq liya karte hain
Hum apni neend mein tera naam kiya karte hain
Jab bhi palkein jhapke tumhari,
Samajh lena hum tumhe dil se yaad kiya karte hain…..

Outgrowing my feelings for you is hard to do it seems. ;)

On this Valentine’s Day I want you to know that I’ll be waiting…till 11:59: 59 PM today. If you ever loved me, show me now. But if you don’t, I’ll understand. I’ll understand that it was my mistake – I was living in a reality of make-believe. That all that happened over the all those months were mere figments of my imagination – even your love. That’ll make it easier for me to close this chapter forever.

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 5 – Chains of Love

Here’s #5 in Love in India special series of DIY Valentine’s Day Cards. Their speciality is that while they’re all exquisite (which you’ll get in many DIY sites around the web), they’re also original and most importantly – each take less than 10 minutes to make (which you’ll not get anywhere else ;)). Today’s is called “Chains of Love”. Here’s the final version.

Things you’ll need:

1. Heart-shaped post-its of two different colours. (alternatively, ordinary post-its of two different colours)

2. Scissors.

3. A pencil.

4. Glue

5. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 5 step 1: Choose heart shaped post-its of two different colours. Or make heart-shaped post-its from ordinary post-its as shown in Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 2.Take 4 of each. Each set of 4 post-its is used for making one chain link. So we’re choosing 8 post-its for making a basic 2 link chain. If you want to make a longer, more gorgeous chain, you can choose any number of post-its as long as it’s a multiple of four.

Valentine’s Day card 5 step 2: Make 8 equally sized coloured strips of paper. These would serve as the links in the chains of hearts.

Valentine’s Day card 5 step 3: Put glue on the two ends of each strip and use them to connect two heart-shapes each. You now have the basic units of the two chain links.

Valentine’s Day card 5 step 4: Decorate each chain link with your favourite quote on each post-it.

Valentines Day Card 5 step 5: Complete the first chain link by connecting the first post-it with the 4th, with the help of a connecting strip.

Valentines Day Card 5 step 6: Complete the next chain link through the first. You now have a complete chain of love.

Valentines Day Card 5 step 7: Fold up the entire thing. It will make it look like a clumsy compilation of quotes to the person receiving your gift. I’m sure you can imagine their surprise when they open it up and see your gorgeous chain of love.

Valentines Day Card 5 step 8: Alternatively you can create the two links separately and use them as love bands to be worn around the wrist.

Like that? No? Let me know in any case by leaving a comment. :)

My Valentine’s Day 2: “The Mysterious Event Which Occurred One Valentine’s Day…”

Hi friends. I’m Anuradha Mallick. You wouldn’t have heard of Mogra – the little town about an hour and a half away from Kolkata where I grew up – or my school, Dr. B.C. Roy High School. It’s here that I first heard about Valentine’s Day – or “Vegetable Day” as it was known among the kids back then.

Photo by Anuradha Mallik

To us, it meant gossip. Loads of it.

Who got the maximum number of proposals from boys?

Who accepted?

Who rejected?

Who got the most candy?

Gifts???

Ah the days of childhood.

I had to leave them behind though (don’t we all?), and went on to earn my B. Tech. (still battling its final throes), along with pursuing my dreams of becoming a photographer.

Photo by Anuradha Mallik

I was in my 2^nd year when it happened.

It was 14^th Feb. I was about to go out for a jog, when I discovered it just by the door.

A box full of chocolates, and a bunch of exquisite red roses. No note. No sign.

No guys, I don’t have a photo of those mysterious objects. The world was not so click-o-manic back then. At least ours wasn’t. But I digress…

Expectedly, it was a shock. I can’t deny that sudden flutter in my stomach and that hot feeling on my cheeks. I strived to tell myself that it may not be for me, but I knew it was. A rush of confused feelings flooded my system. Happiness. Panick. Dizziness. Excitement.

Unfortunately my first surprise Valentine’s Day gifts had to end up in the wild bushes behind our home. Bringing them in would’ve raised eyebrows. And I didn’t want to be asked pointed questions about my non-existent boyfriend.

The next year my anonymous admirer surprised me with his intimate knowledge of my taste of chocolates – I got a bar of Bourneville and one of Crackle that year, which I’d acquired a taste for only shortly before.

Another year my niece discovered my present, went wild with juvenile curiosity and got me into trouble by somehow managing to involve my parents. It was hilarious.

In hindsight.

…

I still receive my roses and box of chocolates every Valentine’s Day. The sender is still elusive. I’m still searching.

Photo by Anuradha Mallik

Note: Anuradha is one of the first and most ardent fans of Love in India. She’s also one of the few budding photographer friends whose photos I love. Do check out her page Anuradha Mallick photography for a taste of her talents.

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 4 – Wanna Hide You in My Heart

As promised, here’s #4 in Love in India special series of DIY Valentine’s Day Cards, each of which take less than 10 minutes to make.

Things you’ll need:

1. Plain paper

2. Scissors.

3. A pencil.

4. Glue

5. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 4 step 1: Take two identical square pieces of paper.

Valentine’s Day card 4 step 2: Keep one aside. Fold the other one into half, like this:

Valentine’s Day card 4 step 3: Fold it twice such that eventually there are three creases across its length and breadth, intersecting at a common point at the centre.

Valentine’s Day card 4 step 4: Join the mid-points of the four sides to draw a square, touching each side of the paper at the mid-point.

Valentines Day Card 4 step 5: Fold it along the diagonal, and draw half a heart on one of the sides, using the inner square as a reference.

Valentines Day Card 4 step 6: We are going to draw many “parallel” hearts inside this outer heart. Let us start by marking the starting and ending points of each heart on the spine of the outermost heart. Make the equidistant from each other, leaving out space for the innermost heart in the centre.

Valentines Day Card 4 step 7: Draw the hearts, one inside the other, as identical as possible.

Valentines Day Card 4 step 8: Now the trickiest part. Each heart has to be cut out from the head and left joined with the others at the tail, or vice versa. Each heart has to be cut in alternate directions – one from head to tail, the next from tail to head. Like this.

For your convenience, I have marked out the alternate directions of cutting on the first two hearts (don’t repeat this unless you want to leave out awkward red arrows on your special valentine’s day card!). Note that each red line as an ending point marked with a prominent red dot.

Each heart is to be cut only till its respective ending point, to leave it joined with the rest of the paper. This will create the layered effect you can see in the final version.

Like the layers? :)

Valentines Day Card 4 step 9: Now stick the square piece of paper with the layers at the centre on to the other identical square you’d kept aside.

…Such that your message can’t be read without opening the layers…

Experiment with the graphics. :)

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 3 – The Maze of My Love

Here are we with the 3rd in the series of Valentine’s Day Card Workshops. Today’s folds of love are called The Maze of My Love and here’s what they look like.

Read on if you want to convey your love to your sweetheart through this sweet maze of your feelings.

Things you’ll need:

1. Plain paper

2. Scissors.

3. A pencil.

4. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 3 step 1: Cut a strip of plain white paper and crease it in a series of folds, like this.

Valentine’s Day card 3 step 2: Fold it up and draw a heart shape on one of the top faces, which you’re going to cut out.

Valentine’s Day card 3 step 3: Cut out the whole strip in the shape of a heart. Make sure the edges (where each plane of paper is joined with others in the strip) are intact.

Valentines Day Card 2 step 4: Smooth out the oblong edges to give the hearts a full, rounded look.

Now you have the base for the maze of your love.

Valentines Day Card 3 step 5: Colour it as you like. I’ve simply chosen two colours for the two sides. You can also choose a different colour for each heart-shaped petal.

Valentines Day Card 3 step 6: Choose your favourite quotes. Or just make them up. Write a different quote/message in each petal.

Fold it up neatly. And you have the “Maze of your love” ready for surprising someone!

Do let me know what you think of this one by leaving a comment. :)

Top 15 Unique Valentine’s Day Ideas

I’m giving Saucy Saturday a miss this Saturday because you seem to be more in need of romance than sauce this season.

Some time back I’d written about some unique and creative anniversary ideas. While some of them are quite specific to anniversary celebrations, many of them can be used in any special occasion for a couple. Here are some unique Valentine’s Day ideas for celebrating this special day with your special someone.

Teach her the “Love Alphabet” through a letter. For each letter of the alphabet, pin down an item which is associated to the two of you and your relationship/marriage. For example, A for Azure – the restaurant we visit most frequently, B for Boston – where we first met, C for Calvin – our dog, etc.
With a little bit of effort you can convert your Alphabet of Love into a photo book – with a different page for each letter and an image representing the associated object.
Get more creative. Convert each photo+item page into a flashcard. Put them in a nice box, decorate with roses and your favourite Valentine’s Day card.
Valentine’s Day is about flowers and Valentine’s Day is about chocolates. How about combining the two in the form of a carefully crafted chocolate bouquet, like this one?
Photo by josanne70

… If you’re running short on time, try a simpler one instead:

Photo by litree

Redo your first date. Visit the same places, eat the same stuff and do the same things. Ours involved a dinner and hopping from sea face to sea face all around the city till 3 in the morning! Isn’t it superbly exciting to relive those crazy moments?
You get custom couple key chains which you can order in pairs. Go nuts with the design – you can choose everything from your names to your thumb impressions as the key chain dangler.
Make a scrapbook/photobook/love letter out of all of those tiny romantic thoughts you had about each other at the crush stage, but couldn’t tell each other. Like, “I suddenly started tweeting Lady Gaga lyrics all over just to get your attention, ’cause I knew you liked it.”
Do you know paper napkins can be folded into cute little envelopes? Make some of these, glue them onto a large piece of art paper, and put the notes you made in the previous steps into these. He/she will just love the cute crafty bit of romance.

Photo by glitterandgrunge.com

Put your notes in the little envelopes but don’t stick them on to a piece of paper. Create a “Goody basket” with chocolates, framed photos, flowers and those little envelopes with your love inside them. If you have any special gift for her you can hide it in here too.
Write “I love you” in different languages and fonts and present to her in the form of a love letter. You can also choose from steps #7 – #9 & repeat with these “I love you” messages.
Write a “50 unique things about you which make me fall in love everyday” letter to her. You can also choose from steps #7 – #9 & repeat with these “unique things about you” messages/notes.
Do you know “cafuné” in Brazilian Portuguese means “The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone’s hair”? There are many such awesomely romantic words and phrases in other languages which have no English equivalent. Use these creatively in a love letter describing your special feelings for her, or use these as messages/notes in #7 – #9.
Give her a calendar/photo book with her name written in custom themes in all pages.
I discovered a great website for creating your custom love poem. You can customize it with her name and favourite gifts and then download it in the shape of a heart like I did. All of this for free!

If you liked these you can check out the complete list of 50 Original & Unique Anniversary Ideas for Sweeping Your Spouse Completely Off Their Feet, most of which, while meant for wedding anniversary surprises, can be perfect for Valentine’s Day celebrations too.

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 2 – You Are Stuck in My Heart

So after Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 1 – You Make My Heart Alive, today is your second class in our V-Day cards series.
Today’s card is inspired by one of my favourite songs – You Are Stuck in My Heart by C21. Here’s what it looks like:

Do you want a special original card like that for your special someone this 14th Feb? If yes, read on.

Things you’ll need:

1. Medium sized post-its/heart-shaped post-its if available.

2. Scissors.

3. A pencil.

4. Ruler

5. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 2 step 1

You need to create 2 heart shapes such that one fits inside the other. You can either start from 2 heart shaped post-its…

…or broad post-its from which you can create the heart shapes on your own.

Valentine’s Day card 2 step 2

Fold the post-it in half so that the two edges coincide perfectly. Press well.

Valentine’s Day card 2 step 3

Carefully draw a half-heart on any one side of this folded piece of paper.

Cut along the drawn lines to create a perfect, symmetrical heart shape.

Now the important part.

Valentines Day Card 2 step 4

Fold the heart in half and make two marks on its spine at a specific distance from each other. I’ve chosen 3.5 cm here.

Valentines Day Card 2 step 5

Fold the heart and cut out a very thin slit on its spine.

Valentines Day Card 2 step 6

Choose another heart-shaped post-it (or make it following the first few steps).

Valentines Day Card 2 step 7

Measure out the same distance (3.5 cm) from the top of the spine of the second heart.

Valentines Day Card 2 step 8

Your objective is to cut out a smaller heart from this second heart, with spine measuring exactly the same as what you measured out on the spine of the first heart (so that the two fit together perfectly).

Valentines Day Card 2 step 9

Now the tricky part. Slide the smaller heart through the slit on the spine of the bigger one. Be careful not to tear any of them!

Valentines Day Card 2 step 10

Here, you have your “You are Stuck in My Heart”. Now try around variations like actually attaching the sticky sides of the post-its, to give a more “stuck” effect :) …

…Or pour out your heart with messages…

You know your special someone will never forget it. :)

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop 1 – You Make My Heart Alive

Valentine’s Day is just about a week away and I know you’re looking for some truly novel, truly great ideas to wow your special someone this 14th Feb.

Roses and chocolate are ok, but I’m sure you’d want to give your special someone something more this 14th Feb – something that will truly touch their heart. When it comes to gifting, no amount of money can replace the time, effort and thoughts you put into it. To help you create the most romantic surprise for him/her this Valentine’s Day, I’m starting today with a series of workshops for making entirely original and creative Valentines Day Cards.

The best thing about these is they all take less than 10 minutes to make, and you don’t need to be a pro (if you know anything about me, you know that I’m not a pro). What’s more – they can be made from absolutely everyday stationary and I promise that the tools needed will never go beyond a pair of scissors, glue and maybe an occasional ruler (I don’t have any other tools than these myself).

So let’s get started with the first.

Today’s card is called “You make my heart alive”, and here’s what it looks like:

Things you’ll need:

1. White paper, a bit hard – you can get blank card material paper at any stationery shop.

2. Post-its. The 2.5 cm by 7.5 cm strips variety.

3. Scissors.

4. Glue

5. A pencil.

6. Coloured pens (Optional, for decoration)

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 1: Choose your favourite set of coloured post-its.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 2: Take one post-it of each colour and hold them aligned.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 3: Fold them twice on to each other to make two equidistant creases.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 4: Fold the folds on to each other so that each little square(ish) plane of paper coincides.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 5: Cut them up carefully to have 9 equal-sized square pieces of coloured paper.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 6: You’ll eventually cut these 9 squares into 9 heart-shapes of different colours. Draw a symmetrical heart-shape carefully with a pencil on one of them.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 7: Align all the pieces, with the one with the heart on top.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 8: Fold the entire set in half, from the middle.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 9: Cut them up carefully in the shape of the heart you drew. You need to be careful to cut 9X2=18 layers of hard post-it into symmetrical pieces.

Valentine’s Day card 1 step 10: Here. You have 9 (almost) identical colourful hearts.Now stick them on in a random fashion to a piece of white art paper to create the perfect romantic hand-made card for your Valentine this 14th Feb. :)

Here’s just an example. Don’t forget to go crazy with the message!

Want more card options? Try Valentine’s Day Card 2 – You Are Stuck in My Heart.