Something about the fact that you’ve made or worked on an item with your own hands seems to make it much more special than a regular store bought item. Handcrafted/handmade gifts can also be kinder on your budget, even if it’s semi-handmade. But what should you make and give? Here’s a round up of ideas from my DIY projects that would make great gifts.
Gild It
Adding gold leaf to something is a beautiful way to add a handmade touch to an ordinary object. Coasters are a great gift idea. Who doesn’t want to protect precious surfaces? Or you can forego the function altogether and frame them as art. The gold leaf just elevates these agate slices. You can use real gold leaf or a gold paint pen as I did here.
Personalizing a glass vase with a bit of shimmery gold adds a classy touch. A gilded vase filled with flowers would make a great hostess gift. When the flowers die, your host can keep the vase to use again!
Framed Thoughts
Give the gift of inspiration and encouragement with a beautifully framed quote that speaks to a friend. This one is so easy too: just print out (or write!) the quote and place in a pretty frame.
Cheers to You
Personalize the gift of cocktails by putting together a basket of goodies along with an etched pitcher or wine glasses all ready for serving those drinks up.
For even more of a handmade cocktail experience, try making your own infused alcohol, i.e. make your own limoncello or fruit infused vodka!
Gift Baskets in General
Of course, gift baskets don’t have to be cocktail related. The beauty of the gift basket is that you can cater to the receiver by composing one filled with anything of your choice. Here, I’ve pictured one I put together for a new mother. Adding fresh flowers as one of the items in the basket is always a lovely touch.
About the Jewels
For your fashionable friend with all the jewelry, a gift to help organize it all is so nice to help her see all that she has! You can go the corkboard route, which is easy to color customize with fun fabric, or put together a framed grid organizer. The small 5×7 version is great for those short on space.
For your friends who never have enough jewelry, give your own creations as gifts. I recently made jewelry pins out of my beach souvenirs and you could do something similar with a friend’s favorite travel souvenirs (stamps, keychains, etc)
So there you go – ideas that are easy and relatively inexpensive yet provide that handmade touch to your gift giving. Happy making!
-J