Remember the Date

Always wonder what to buy someone to remember a special day or date? Why not make them a photo frame with the date and something to note what happened?

This was an idea I used to celebrate my boyfriend's graduation so I chose the date and his name with the letters he'd earnt from graduating. You could also use this for an anniversary, a wedding, a birthday or even an achievement. It's simple to create but looks really effective and is a lovely way to remember the date.

Here is the design of the page before it went into the frame. His name is blocked out for obvious reasons!

Because I'm so good to you guys I've designed some backgrounds that you can use for your frames. As they're all quite heavy on the colour you may prefer to print them onto card or photo paper to make them look their best. If you're using publisher then you should be able to recolour the picture to anything you want. It would work brilliantly if you could tint the background to her favourite colour - just a little suggestion!

 

To make it look even more professional I backed the printed page with some black paper (to coordinate with the text) before putting it into a frame with a mount. The mount really makes it look all the more special. I bought the frame for a really good price at Wilkinson here (with mount).

If you like the idea and put some effort into it, this is what you should end up with. I hope you'll agree that it looks quite impressive and is a great present that can be put up on a wall so that a special day is never forgotten. The blanked out section shows his name with the new letters he achieved after graduating. You could put both of your names with your anniversary date or the names of the bride and groom with their wedding date. The possibilities are endless and the results are fantastic (if I do say so myself!).

If you're curious about how it looked when it was wrapped then have a look below for the simple wrapping paper I designed.

As I always say, good luck and please email me if you have any questions or want to show and tell me how you've done!

Love from lila xx

National Cupcake Week

You may or may not already know that this week is national cupcake week. What you may not know is why I'm talking about it and how it relates to romance! So why not read on and see how cupcakes can bring a little romance to your relationship?

You know that I like to make life easy for you guys so I'm not going to give you a huge long, complicated recipe for making cakes. Just head to the supermarket and pick yourself up a packet cupcake mix and get inspired. I've made six easy cupcake designs that shouldn't need too much effort to create but should wow your girlfriend!

These are the cupcakes that I made using a Betty Crocker chocolate cupcakes packet mix. I bought some pretty cupcake cases and after cooking the cupcakes in the plain cases from the box I added the pretty cases. Now I'll run through each cupcake individually to show you how easy it is to create beautiful looking cupcakes!

• The front left hand side cupcake is just topped with the white chocolate chunks from the packet mix. You could even cut out a little heart shape from cardboard and sprinkle the topping into a heart shape.
• The front right hand side cupcake is topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
• The middle left hand side cupcake is topped with dried strawberries (from Waitrose or specialty cake decorating shops).
• The middle right hand side cupcake is topped with a curly wurly that has been refrigerated and cut up. You could use any chocolate bar at all though and using her favourite bar would be particularly clever!
• The back left hand side cupcake is topped with a crumbled up cookie but you could use any of her favourite biscuits or cookies.
• and the back right hand side cupcake is topped with a single strawberry and sprinkled with icing sugar.

So if you can take an hour out of your day to make some beautiful cupcakes for your beautiful girlfriend then I know that she'll be impressed and think it's incredibly romantic! Good luck.

Love from lila xx

Another Present Idea!

Feel a little lost when it comes to present buying for your lady? Read on for a quick and easy present idea...

Starting a collection for your girlfriend is a really cute idea that can become a bit of a tradition for the two of you that she'll absolutely love! If your girlfriend already has a collection then it can be a nice touch to continue that collection, showing that you really know her and pay attention to the things she talks about. Whether she already has one or not, it's nice to start a new one, just between the two of you. It doesn't have to be something expensive but should be a nice reminder of your relationship or how well you know each other. If you start a collection for her then continue it whenever you get the chance, it's a great way of knowing what present to buy her before the occasion comes around (I know you boys worry about present buying!). You could even get inventive and see whether you can find something different and unique but still within the same theme every time. The best part is that you can start a secret collection of the present so that you have a supply ready for every present-giving occasion meaning that you don't have to panic every time you need to buy a present because you already have some ready to give! So whether it's purple or heart shaped or dedicated to cupcakes, get collecting and start a new present tradition.

As always, good luck!
Love from lila xx

How Do You Feel?

Does that question fill you with fear? It shouldn't do! Read on and I'll give you a few ideas about how you should answer the question.

Why does that question seem to freak men out so much? If it freaks you out because you don't really know how to answer the question or what she wants you to say then I may have a solution for you. There's nothing confusing or difficult about the question, she just wants to hear how you feel about her, whether you think she's attractive and whether she's important to you because women need to be reassured regularly that you love them and are happy with the relationship. It's even better if you tell her how you feel without being prompted (hint hint).


Here's a few questions that she may be implying with 'how do you feel?' and that you could use to answer her with...

• Do you think I'm attractive?
• Do you love me? (if you've got there already)
• Do you miss me when I'm gone? Do you look forward to seeing me after we've been apart?
• Are you proud to show me off in front of your friends? Do you think that they think you're lucky?
• Do you see me in your future? Do you look forward to it?
• Do you think you're lucky to be with me?
• Are you happy with me?
• Do you enjoy spending time with me?
• (For those with kids) Do you think I'm a good mum? Are you proud of our family?

The main thing to think about when she asks you is - What does your heart tell you when you look at her? If you keep that in mind and answer that, then you should be able to give her an answer that will make her happy. If you want to know how to phrase some of the things that you might want to tell her then take a look at this post from a few weeks ago.

And a little heads up, just in case. If she's telling you how she feels about you, this would be a really great time to tell her how you feel about her because she's probably sharing her feelings as she's feeling a little insecure and is hoping that you'll share yours too.

So I've sent you off armed with some ideas about how to answer the dreaded 'how do you feel?' question which I hope now isn't quite as dreaded as before. As always, good luck!

Love from lila xx