Last week I shared a few ideas for gifts for the artists and creatives in your life. Since they were all things to buy, I thought I’d do another post on gifts you can make.
For me homemade gifts get triple bonus points because:
1. They are much more personal and really make people feel special
2. It’s as fun for you to get all creative making them as it is meaningful for the person receiving them
3. They are often less expensive than buying something
I’ve gathered here some of the gifts I’ve made in the past, from quick little silly things to larger more involved projects, as well as cards and wrapping.
Sometimes very little is required to pull together something lovely. Generally I like gifts that have a use as well as being pretty, but that’s a personal preference.
{Some links are affiliate links.}
Gifts
All you need is some Air Drying Clay
{And a bit of patience while they dry. 🙂 }
I used an old deck of tiny playing cards. You could add personal messages, quotes, prompts, anything you like!
Inspired by a Facebook post by Elizabeth Gilbert, this jar could be filled with love notes, quotes, gratitudes, or as I’ve done, short affirmations and phrases of things to do that make me feel happy.
Super easy to make, these can be strung across a room, attached to stems to make a bunch, or an adornment for gift wrapping. These are mine but the link takes you to a much better tutorial {the one I used, in fact}.
Quite a few ‘ingredients’ involved, but fun to make and so worth it.
So simple, and would look really special in a nice frame. Takes five minutes, as demonstrated in this video mini I made. 🙂
These were inspired by Alisa Burke. You just need a smooth pebble or two and a couple of ring bases {easy to find on Ebay or in a local craft store}.
Cards
Turn an old painting or background into cards
So easy it’s a bit ridiculous.
Scroll past the Christmas rant to find the tutorial. 🙂
Cards from coloured photocopies of your art
Not as tacky as it sounds. I was really happy with these.
Wrapping and Decorations
Washi tape bunting
So simple it needs no tutorial. Just fold sections of tape over a length of string or thin ribbon, snip into the end to make flag shapes and boom. Done. Use for decorating or wrapping.
Super simple and quick.
Pretty! My ‘tutorial’ is a bit slapdash {surprise}, but it’s really as simple as it looks.
I can be pretty crafty when I put my mind to it. 😉 Do you know how to make something festive and awesome? Please feel free to share a link to your own tutorials below! And if you make any of the above, I would love to see!
Thanks for all the ideas Tara – I’m going to try one of the card ones … someone gave me a gift of some wallpaper samples and they’d work really well in these.
I make sloe gin and bottle it up in pretty bottles for friends and I also found a really simple Winter Granola mix in an old Good Housekeeping which is a handy one too … it uses orange zest, vanilla, cranberries and pecan nuts with the usual oats and seeds, honey and oil to give a really nice toasted winter smell.
Fil
Fil’s Place – Old songs and Memories
Hi Fil – yes, wallpaper samples are great for creative projects for sure! {And also wrapping!} I love the sound of your Winter Granola – yummy!
These all look beautiful Tara, thanks for sharing! I love the idea of creating an inspiration deck and the happiness jar too 🙂
Hi Hannah, thanks for stopping by! I have very strict criteria – they must be fun and easy, and quick if at all possible! But the longer ones, like the cards and the terrarium, were so worth the effort. 🙂
I think Ish might find it’s way to our home this year 🙂 What a gorgeous sounding book. I have bought my 2 year old 4 of the Mini Masters board books for Christmas. they are books about people like Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir etc but the art work is accompanied by simple but lovely poems based on the art work to introduce them at a young age. They are just lovely. I wish I’d discovered them when my girls were younger.
I treated myself to a set of Neocolour ii’s for my birthday this year. Am also in love with them.
Came via your newsletter – loved all the links. Am pinning the gift ones. Am usually a silent lurker here and on FB but love ALL the links in your newsletters, so thought I’d say hi 🙂
Carmen thank you so much for stopping by today. I honestly can’t tell you how lovely it is to hear from people who read what I write, so I’m really happy that you took the time to say hi and leave your thoughts today. It really makes my day! I haven’t heard of the minis masters books but am going to Amazon right now to have a look! They sound right up my street. 😉