These 6 Creative DIY Christmas gifts will give your economy a break this Christmas. You’ll be fine with your friends and loved ones, but above all, you will not have to spend a lot of money. You will only have to invest time. Ready to develop your creative side? Take note!
Creative DIY Christmas gifts
1. Photo and paper tree
Instead of giving away the typical picture frames with your favorite photograph, you could make a tree with the best selections. It’s simple, cheap and beautiful. And you can even do it with hard twigs.
- To create a solid base, we choose a small jar, fill it with polystyrene and insert inside our wooden toothpick.
- Having established the width from which we want to start, cut out a square of cardboard one centimeter per side smaller and stick it on the stick until it is resting on the edges of the vase (optimal is the cardboard box, not too thick, but resistant)
- Then proceed by stabbing one sheet after another in the center; let them slide down and rotate them so that the corners are offset. With small squares of cardboard, we create the thickness between one sheet and another and from time to time insert a larger square (like the one we have inserted at the base). So that, the paper has a solid support and does not tend to sag. As we move upwards, we cut the sheets of paper into smaller and smaller sizes and continue with the alternation of paper and cardboard.
- Once at the top, we finish our work by inserting on the toothpick a Christmas ball of adequate size, or we can make a do-it-yourself pon, white or colored, according to taste.
2. Cups decorated with a nice message
Buy plain colored mugs and a permanent down. Now take a little inspiration or look for motivational phrases and voila!
Take a large half liter white cup. Write your desired quotes or message with a label printer. If you haven’t a printer, go to the market near you. You can find a mug print shop. They will charge 3-5 dollars.
3. A conical hat/cap
Are you skilled with your hands and you learn fast? A yarn cap of your friend’s favorite color will solve your situation.
- Download the cone-shaped template that comes at the end of the page and print
- Cut out the shape and use it to draw the shape on the card, then cut it out
- Decorate to your liking, if you have to paint or paste do it before giving it the final shape, except if you are going to put some ribbon around the base, this is better done with the finished form. To put the ornament on the upper part, stick it so that it is later on the inside of the hat.
- When you have the decorated cap, give it the shape of a cone and stick it with a little glue or liquid silicone
- To finish, make a hole in each one of the sides and pass a rubber band or ribbon to be able to hold it to the head without dropping it.
4. Cup decorated with enamel
Simple, cheap and you can even recycle.
We will need:
- Cups ( Never mind, old or new)
- Enamels (You have to try different because some will dissolve very fast and others. It will stay like gobs. This will depend on the brand and quality of the enamel; here I can not help you anymore, just try to find the colors that you like the best and work best for this craft)
- Water (The bowl where you are going to dip the cup has to be deeper than the cup. Obviously, and the water has to be warm )
- Enamel remover(This is to clean the edges and the inside of the cup if we want to drink and to polish the drawing better)
- Oven (I have preheated it to 180º, and then I baked it for 15 minutes. This will depend on your oven, the cups, and the enamel. So, keep checking it, because if you go over, you can burn the enamel and you can get bubbles.
The best trick I can give you is to work fast; the water makes the layer of the enamel that is on the surface dries quickly, so, as you can see in the video, as soon as you throw out the colors, work it fast and sink the cup.
5. Christmas cards
If you are more classic and traditional, a nice card made by you will give nostalgia to the moment.
Step 1: The starting step is to cut a circle in the middle of the base of our Christmas postcard that covers most of the surface.
Step 2: Next, with the silicone stamps from the “Merry Christmas” collection, I’m going to stamp a couple of snowflakes inside the cutout area.
Step 3: Then, I will stick a couple of stickers or matching stickers also inside the cutout area. Some I will paste directly on the paper and others using dimensional pads of Anita and her world, this way volume is gained, and the design is more entertaining on our Christmas postcard.
I keep filling my circle, this time with some enamel dots of Anita’s basics and her world. I love the enamel dots. They are small and always bring dimension and entertaining touch to the projects.
Step 4: Finally, in the space that remains among all the ornaments that I put, I also placed the word “Christmas” using the alphabet of green stickers. To finish I pasted a little ribbon of a gold ribbon on top of the circle, to give the idea of a Christmas ball.
6. Aromatic candles
White candles are very cheap, and if it’s spare parts for more flavorings of scents, you can make this design to get a beautiful gift. Making scented candles takes some time, but it is not at all complicated. You just have to follow these steps:
- First, heat the wax. Do it in the saucepan, over low heat or moderate. So that, it melts well. The good idea is to do it in the water bath (placing a larger bucket with water and introducing in it the smallest container with the wax) and stir with a wooden spatula. These utensils should be used only to make candles do not use them to cook! On the other hand, another possibility to melt the wax is a casting bag, which is immersed in hot water. The idea is that the paraffin remains liquid.
- Next, add the colors and smells. When the wax has cooled, pour a few drops of the chosen essence or blend according to your taste. Not too much, since the aroma will be very strong.
- Next, dispose of the single-tone dye. Then, shape. Pour the melted wax, flavored and painted into the mold you have chosen (you can also find them in specialized houses).
- Do not forget to grease the base and walls of the mold with a drop of cooking oil. When pouring the wax, you must leave a part of the mold empty (that is, it fills up to 90% of the mold)
- Then, to fix the wick to the candle, you have to tie one end of it to the guide rod. It is to cut the wick through the hole in the rod and pass it to the other side through the hole in the mold.
- Finally, fix the wick with the sealant and cut what is left over. Remember to leave a little rope above the candle, so you can then turn it on.