Saturday, 05 December 2009
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Advice: How Do I Make My Own Presents?
This question comes from one of our readers:
I'm really strapped for cash this holiday season, but I still want to give presents to friends and family, so I was thinking about trying to make some homemade gifts. The only problem is that I'm not very artistic—though I am creative—so anything I make will have to be pretty simple. Do you know any tips or useful websites to help me D.I.Y. some presents? What's the best homemade gift you've ever made?
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Comments (12)
I usually bake cookies or go to ACmoore and stock up on plain colored tees to make custom tees. It's cheap b/c the fabric paints you buy can be used over and over (until the supply is depleted of course!).
lately, i've been making jewelry as presents for my friends.
but yeah food's always an option, and if you want to customize clothes/notebooks/stationary with people's names, you can do that too.
good luck going homemade this year! :]
Homemade fortune cookies with a personal message. There are websites with different instructions. Just don't write on both sides of the fortune - it will get greasy and bleed through!
I'm knitting a scarf for a friend for her christmas present. First time knitting, so it's kinda "special" but i dno.. caus if you're planning on kntting for a whole bunch of friends, it might take too long haah ^-^"
For friends who like to eat but dont like to bake for themselves, homemade cookies and chocolates are always winners!
I tend to try to make useful things. I have given a crocheted blanket to my father-in-law, a crocheted scarf to a friend, crocheted pot holders, trivets made from bottle caps and fabric. If you have a friend who is a bartender - or go to a bar occassionally - ask for the bottle caps. Most bars throw them away. You can then paint them or cover them in fabric to make mosaics or coasters and such.
Beaded jewelry is fairly easy, but be careful because it can get expensive quick!
For children or people who are always cold, get 2 pieces of fleece fabric. Lay them one on top of the other so they match up exactly. Cut about 4 inches into the fabric about ever 2 inches. Then knot the fringe together. Really warm, pretty blankets that are simple!
Good luck!
Bake cookies or knit! I'm knitting dishcloths and other handmade items for Christmas. There are tons of videos on youtube on how to knit. I highly recommend the knitwitch videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/theknitwitch#p/u/37/G8kF5JBkjSs
If you just figure out the knit stitch, you should be able to knit at least dish cloths and scarves for Christmas! Good luck!!Go to your local thrift store and pick up a few mugs. Then, go to pick up various teas (decaf & caf), hot cocoa, those bags of candy, and other various small items that are useful & great to eat.
Assemble for each person's taste like the color mug w/ various candies in it w/ a few packs of tea/cocoa.
Finally, wrap up w/ gift wrapping paper that you can buy at the dollar store don't forget to write who it is to!
Happy Holidays!
And I hope this helps you out!
If you have house plants you can take a few shoots off each and pot them to make baby plants as gifts.
you can make certificates. when i was younger i'd make certificates for my family... like 'good for one day of cleaning' or something, but you can tailor them to fit what people want. if you know someone really likes backrubs, give them a certificate for x number of free backrubs from you.
here's something i've been doing for a good while: wood burning. The pen costs about 7 dollars and comes with a variety of tips. wood's pretty darn cheap and as for designs, you can always find something that the person will like. it looks damn cool because of the contrast between the burns and the pale wood, and once you burn whatever design you happen to think of into the wood, it's going to stay there for a long ass time. michaels has everything you need
food man, everyone loves food. nobody likes that homemade crap (a few exceptions...)
Hot chocolate mix in a jar. Cookie mix in a jar. Get plain gycerol soap blocks and melt + pour them into moulds with food coloring and a few drops of fragerence.