Valentines Day Gift Online — Valentines Day Gifts

Heart Shaped Diamond Necklace – The Gift Of Love

by painterlady

Long ago (I mean historically speaking) diamonds were cut in a nearly square shape, with the corners somewhat rounded off. The idea was to get as much brilliancy as possible and also to save as much weight as possible.

Diamonds are now mostly cut, as very one knows, practically round. It must be remembered that a poorly cut stone will not look as large as a stone of slightly less weight, if the diamond is cut perfectly.

Fine diamonds, especially those of considerable size, are cut into drop shapes, marquise shape, square cut or emerald cut, square cut with steps, and oval, the last being cut like a round brilliant, but of oval shape.

Small pieces from the processes of cleaving and sawing diamonds are generally rose cut, with flat back. It is due probably to this fact that the rose-cut stones come from the fragments that they are commonly termed chips.

In the old days of cutting many of the famous stones were rose cut, having when properly cut twenty-four facets. A correctly proportioned rose shaped diamond should be one half its diameter in thickness. Smaller and poorer rose cut diamonds have twelve facets.

The Perfect Diamond

A diamond without flaw or spot which can be discovered by using an ordinary watchmaker’s glass. Scientifically the perfect diamond does not exist, as all diamonds must show imperfections if a glass powerful enough be used.

Imperfections or flaws in a diamond are due to carbon spots or minute cracks. Commercially, perfect diamonds or slightly imperfect and even imperfect diamonds are equally staple and salable. The actual value of the stone is of course determined by its color, brilliancy, freedom from discernible imperfections or conspicuousness of flaws if they exist, and size.

Diamond Heart Shaped Pendants Are Not A Fad

A fashion in jewelery should last longer than a clothing fashion trend. Many of my heirloom pieces of jewelry are in the shape of a heart. I have a heart shaped locket that was my great grandmothers… I have a heart shaped pendant that my father made for my mother while they were dating… and my grandmother left me a beautiful heart shaped brooch. She was a classy lady… in fact all the ladies in my life have been “Classic”.

Heart Shaped Jewelry will never go out of style and a Heart Shaped Diamond Necklace is bound to end up as a family heirloom.

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Why Do We Celebrate Valentine’s Day

by painterlady

Why Do We Celebrate Valentines Day
Each year, couples from around the globe celebrate their love on February 14. They exchange cards, flowers, chocolate and other gifts, and go out for special dates. But have you ever wondered why we do this?

There were actually three saints with the name Valentine, all of whom were martyred on February 14. This makes it a bit harder to pinpoint the exact origins of the holiday, but a popular theory is that the holiday is named after St. Valentine, a priest in the 3rd century.
photo credit: karen horton

This priest performed secret marriages against the wishes of Roman Emperor Claudius II who thought men should stay single, as they would be more likely to enlist in the army. Rumor has it that he healed the jailer’s blind daughter, and then sent her a note before his execution that said “From your Valentine.”

England’s King Henry VIII declared Valentine’s Day an official holiday in 1537. At this time it was still a religious holiday; it was another 500 years before Valentine’s Day cards became non-religious. The day remained a Church holiday until 1969 when Pope Paul VI removed it from the official Church calendar.

Whatever the background reason, it has become an American tradition to celebrate this day and show your love for the special people in your life.

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Homemade Chocolate Gifts For Valentines Day

by painterlady

6 Chocolate Belgian Chocolate Spoons: Luxury Chocolate Stirring spoons for Coffee, tea or milk!

From My Heart To Yours – Homemade Chocolate Gifts

By Nicole Dean

If buying gifts this year for whatever reason, whether it’s your babysitter’s Birthday, a Christmas gift for your neighbor, a Valentine’s gift for your favorite Aunt, or a Thank You gift for someone who took care of your dog, has you panicked, join the club. Families all over the world are feeling the pinch of an exceedingly tight budget.

We’ve discovered in our goal to reduce spending, that when money is tight, the first thing that we start to question is our gift giving. We all want to lavish people we love with beautiful, expensive gifts. But, that won’t be the case any longer in our family, so what do we do? I believe a gift given from the heart is appreciated just as much, if not more, than a gift of monetary value.

My favorite heartfelt gift is food, chocolate in particular. If you have a little bit of time, you can create some pretty fancy chocolate treats with very little money. A little bit of chocolate goes a long way when you use it to create nut clusters or coconut haystacks, or any number of fun, simple treats. Anyone would think you just paid a fortune when you present them with some pretty chocolate delicacies.

Making chocolate treats isn’t as difficult as it may seem. You’ll need just a few simple supplies, a little practice, and you’re on your way. Once you get good a making a few treats, your family and friends will look for them with great anticipation. This particular chocolate treat is really great because no one will think to make them just for themselves.

Chocolate Dipped Coffee Spoons

This spoon will top your list of all time favorite gifts for the coffee lover. What’s great is that you can give this gift to a man or woman because chocolate knows no limits.

This is what you’ll need:

You can either purchase some nice silver spoons from your friendly local thrift shop, or just buy some heavy plastic spoons. I like the silver ones because you can find fancy spoons and sometimes some pretty unusual ones, too. Just wash and dry them before using.

Purchase milk chocolate coating, not Real Chocolate. You’ll find blocks of the coating in the baking aisle at the grocery store. The reason you don’t want to use Real Chocolate is because it tends to be a little more difficult to get just right. You don’t want to bother with it, and the chocolate coating is delicious.

If you’d like to add some crushed peppermint candy or other candy sprinkles to your spoons, that’s really pretty, too. You may also look for flavoring oils, like peppermint or amaretto, to really make these spoons fancy.

Parchment paper is a must for covering the cookie sheets. Do not use waxed paper. Warm chocolate has a tendency to stick to waxed paper. The parchment paper will make your finished product a lot easier to handle, and your clean-up a bit nicer, too.

I recommend that since you’re giving a gift of food, buy the proper wrapping. Look in your candy making section of any craft store for clear cellophane candy bags in a size to fit the spoon, leaving some of the handle sticking out. You’ll also want to find some ribbon and raffia to tie the package closed and to decorate the gift.

The process is simple:

Fill a large pan with water and bring it to a boil. While you’re waiting, carefully chop your chocolate into little pieces. Place your chocolate pieces in a smaller heavy pan that will fit into the large pan. When water boils, remove large pan from heat, and carefully lower the smaller pan into the water, being sure you don’t overflow the water. Let chocolate sit and start to melt, then remove from pan with water and begin stirring with a big spoon or spatula until chocolate is all melted.

When the chocolate is melted down, take a spoon and carefully dip it into the chocolate, hanging on to the handle, and place it on parchment paper on your tray or cookie sheet. Now is the time to add any decorations like sprinkles or crushed peppermints. Then continue dipping each spoon and decorating. When you are done, take your cookie sheet full of spoons and place it in a cold area. You can put them in a freezer or refrigerator but don’t let them stay in there because they will get moist. If you do use the freezer or refrigerator, take them out in just a few minutes and let them totally set up somewhere dry.

Now your chocolate is set and you are ready to wrap your spoons up. Begin by placing each spoon in a candy bag that you purchased. Tie a piece of raffia, or gift wrap ribbon, or other pretty material on each bag around the handle so that the bag is closed securely. You may wish to tie more ribbon or some decorations on the bag, even a peppermint candy cane, or anything that makes your spoon gift more festive.

Now that you’ve finished tying up all those pretty little gifts, aren’t you pleased with yourself? You have spent your time creating gifts that show you care. Instead of running out to the store to quickly buy yet another gift card, your gift shows that you took time to plan and make a very special someone a very special gift… straight from the heart.

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Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane mom behind ShowMomtheMoney.com – a fun and informative site to help moms achieve success working from home. She welcomes you to learn more ways to save money in her Frugal Meal Ideas section. Be sure to sign up for her free lessons for work at home moms.