Epic Silly Love Song Typographic Valentine.

Here’s a Throw-back V-Day (patent pending) special for you.

2 years ago, i made this Typographic Valentine for my then-beloved boyfriend and now fiancé, Justin.

The idea was inspired by the movie Amelie. Specifically by the scene when she cuts up some old love letters to her landlady from the woman’s husband, who was lost at war long ago. She puts them back together in a new composition. She then gives it to her landlady, claiming that it is her husband’s last letter to her, and was just lost in the mail for decades.

(It was also inspired by the fact that i was flat broke at the time, and needed something that made up for in meaning what it lacked in expense.)

Since we never had any real love letters (unless you count the flirty tongue-in-cheek facebook and livejournal posts we made for years before we got together), i had the idea to use love song lyrics. One of Justin’s first and most meaningful gifts to me was a mix CD called Silly Love Songs. We were both dating other people at the time, but he claimed it was simply an assemblage of love songs for intellectual comparison, from one music-aficianado to another.

He was lying, obviously, and just trying to get with me.

i came up with this idea in January, and was excited about it for weeks, working on it every chance i got.

i listed some of our favorite and most meaningful songs, (including the quintessential Wings song that started it all), and chose my favorite lines from each of them. Then i put them back together in a way that created a poem, and sort of told a story.

After that, inspired by the typographic quotes and poetry i was finding on my then newly-discovered Pinterest, i designed up the lyrics in a variety of fonts and affixed them with little illustrations befitting the subject of each one.

i don’t think i’ve ever poured so much thought and love into a gift, or been so proud of it. It’s so mushy and yet so very *us.* Even the punky girl at the counter that printed it off for me, who seemed totally morose and bothered to be ringing up another customer when i dropped it off, was much more interested and talked to me about it when i picked it up. (She totes wanted to be my Valentine…)

Since then i think my type skillz have improved a bit, but i still treasure it as a snapshot of our relationship. It hangs in our house now, and i plan on displaying it at our reception next year when i marry my best friend (best friend with benefits). i hope i can pull it together and create a wedding for us that is just as mushy and meaningful and *us* all at the same time.

See if you can recognize any of the lyrics i picked!

Happy Valentine’s Day!